Devotional for friends // Devocional para as amigas

  The kingdom of God   Where is it? It is here. How? You might ask, I only see disaster, poverty, violence. How can this be the Kingdom of God? Yet, it is. Because it is not made by those people who cause violence or evil. But it is made by those who follow, truly follow Jesus. Jesus said so many times what the Kingdom of heaven is like and what it is made of.   The Kingdom of God is precious, so precious that it is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. (Matthew 13:44)   It is made of people who live like Jesus lived. It is made by the poor, the meek, by those who mourn, those who are merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and persecuted by His name’s sake. We are being transformed (at least we should be) every day into a person more like Jesus, to be able to see His Kingdom in the age to come. We are in the proces...

  Today I heard a very sad testimony of a man who has been afflicted with a terrible disease or diseases, and although he has been through several surgeries and treatments, his faith still remains. Even knowing that God is not going to heal him because of His purposes, his hope for eternal life holds.   It made me think that I also have health issues, nothing like his; what made me feel a little ashamed because at the beginning of his testimony, I said that if it were me, I would have killed myself twice. I know how weak my faith is. But one thing I know, God’s plans are still better. I don’t understand them, but I have the same hope. His plans don’t depend on my faith to happen. He has the control.   I hear people confronting God, or questioning his existence based on the cruelty in this world. If there is no God, where does your “goodness” come from? Even if you admit that God exists and you have rejected him because of...

  He came to a broom bush, sat under it, and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough,  Lord ,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”   5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once, an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”   6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. 7 The angel of the  Lord  came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”   8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. (1 Kings 19: 4-8) How many times have you wished that this life were over? I have wished that many times. Sometimes it is just too painful, or sad, or hopeless, isn’t it? You know, Elijah...

Mount Olympus  Why Jesus and not anyone else?   Imagine you in the woods, looking around and seeing all types of life. Animals, plants, waterfalls, the sound of nature. And you rationalize, wouldn’t it be better if someone very thoughtful and loving had created all of this for me? If there could be a person who could create such magnificent beauty and give it to me, what would I call this gesture? I would be tempted to call it love.   Now, imagine you were living more than 3000 years ago when every person around you had what they called a god. But all of those gods, you knew exactly where they came from, what were their strengths and weaknesses. But none of them could create anything exactly. Everything was already there, created. And you wish you could learn the mysteries of all nature, and people, and love. You knew some gods were cool, others not so much. You knew some could be very vindictive, others very demanding. And you always had to do so much to please them and ...

Just because I like crows and I praise God when I see them. Só porque eu gosto de corvos e louvo a Deus quando os vejo. The foreknowledge of God (by Saint Thomas Aquinas)   In God, there is another perfection. He foresees with prudence all future things, good or bad. Before they happen, He knows them and sees the good of the evil that will result from them.  God foresaw the fall of the angel Lucifer and that of the first man. He permitted temptation; He knew in advance all the evil that would result from it for the human race, and also all the good – that is to say, the Incarnation of the Son of God, by which man receives a glory even greater than that which he had before the Fall.   Our own foresight   Let us also foresee all our doings, our words, our desires, our works, and let us consider the good and the evil that may result for us from them, as well as the scandal or edification that others will receive from them. Likewise, let us ponder beforehand the temptati...

LENT/ QUARESMA The church I grew up in didn't teach Lent. Lent "belonged" to another church, to another tradition. I think most people who don’t observe Lent don’t know what it means. I didn’t.   When I was a kid, I used to hear about this season. But people used to say that people from this other tradition would observe Lent because of what they did during the previous days before Ash Wednesday. In Brazil, we have a party called Carnaval, a non-Christian-like party.   So, I didn’t really care about Lent until I arrived here in the U.S. The churches I have been part of do observe Lent. I was a little resistant about it at the beginning, but not anymore.   They teach Lent as a season of preparation for Easter. All Christians observe Easter, and the Jews call it Passover. The Jews remember the exodus from Egypt. God’s deliverance from slavery. The crossing of the Red Sea. This part of the story is very important to understand why Christians have Easter.    God, af...