Fr Philip Carter offers a ministry of spirituality, with a series of meditations on some questions that we may ponder as we consider our life in God.
You will find here his reflections and questions for meditation, images, music and poetry to enrich your life’s journey.
Love is who God is, and what God does.
Approaching Jesus, I then can begin to appreciate his truth, and I find courage then, as I learn more and more of Jesus, to appropriate not just what he stands for but who he is. In this way I begin to put into practice his way of being. Jesus becomes my way of living and relating.
Love one another as I have loved you.
John 13:34
Love is God’s meaning, love is God’s name. Love is who God is, and what God does. The community of love – which is God – is our community, in which we discover who we are, who we can become, and what we are to do. And that is precisely the gift we have for each other.
Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones.
Matthew 18:10
Image: Cara Hochhalter, Welcoming the children
The One who is gentle and humble of heart asks us to respect and honour the least, the last and the lost. This respect for human life – for human dignity and freedom – is fundamental in our learning Jesus.
Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant, whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.
Matthew 20:26-27
Image: Cara Hochhalter, Washing feet
Jesus came not to found a religion but to usher in a new era of human relating. Presence without privilege, dialogue without arrogance, ministry without domination. Take care how you relate to each other, for Jesus came “not to be served but to serve”. He is for us the reason to serve, as well as the model. But even more than a model to imitate, we are to become Jesus in the world, who has no hands but our hands.
The images in this post are from A Challenging Peace in the Life and Stories of Jesus, by Cara B Hochhalter. The image at the top of the post is From the Lord’s Prayer.
This is my will, my one command,
that love should dwell among you all.
This is my will, that you should love
as I have shown that I love you.
No greater love a man can have
than that he die to save his friends.
You are my friends if you obey
all I command that you should do.
I call you now no longer slaves;
no slave knows all his master does.
I call you friends, for all I hear
my Father say you hear from me.
You chose not me, but I chose you,
that you should go and bear much fruit.
I called you out that you in me
should bear much fruit that will abide.
All that you ask my Father dear
for my name’s sake you shall receive.
This is my will, my one command,
that love should dwell in each, in all.
James Quinn (1918 – 2010)
For a printable PDF of the text of this meditation please click on the link below.
