sarkakaiaima

 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:7, NRSV). The terms “mercy” and “merciful” are among those terms which have become ubiquitous in the Christian tradition. These are terms used regularly to describe the very character of God in Scripture—indeed, in Scripture the terms are most often used of God and less often as applied to people. The Lord Jesus applied the word “merciful” to humans and of God’s interactive relating to them. That God extends “mercy” to us or that we are “merciful” to another person encompasses the full range of human needs. On the one hand, humans are created as needy and dependent upon God for all things (whether they realize or want to acknowledge this or not) and so they are always in need of God’s mercy. On the other hand, we sin and inflict harm upon each other and can even attempt to harm God (as utterly foolish as that is). God remains merciful to us, “for he makes his sun rise on the evil [persons] and on the good [persons...

I have in recent years come to put into words a truth that I knew for many years before this from my own experience. That is, “God does not waste anything.” What I mean by this is that in our own evaluations of our actions, thoughts, experiences and cultural upbringing we tend to make harsh distinctions between what is good or bad, worth remembering and treasuring and that which we want to leave behind and forget. And we tend to also assume that God views our lives and our actions in the same way. Yet this is not so.  The Almighty God perceives the totality of our lives, as individuals and together in local communities, within nations, and in the broad outworking of historical events. God is “no respecter of persons” (Romans 2:11)—seeing and judging us as we are and within the time-space historical time that God set us into. Whatever or whoever shaped or formed our view of what is real, true and beautiful is known by the Holy Spirit, and he can and does utilize that for our good—...

  "If we were asking a favor from someone in a high position, we'd do it with humility and respect. How much more, then, should we approach the Lord, the God of the universe, with complete humility and sincere devotion!  We must remember that we are not heard because we say many words, but because we pray with a pure heart and true repentance. Therefore, our prayers should be simple and sincere, unless God's grace moves us to pray longer. When praying together as a community, however, prayers should be kept brief. Once the superior gives the signal, everyone should stand together." *Cited from The Rule of St. Benedict : A modern translation, St. Benedict, translated Peter Northcutt (Modern Saints Books:2025), chapter 20, p.31.

Good Summer to you all.  I have been out of the pattern of posting here on this blog because I have been working on other writing projects (a second book), and also due to having timeframes for completing writing projects related to my work. There is only so much time I have. However, I will aim to at least occasionally get something posted here.  Thank you for reading these posts over these years since I first started this. Jason Caywood  

Many of us, as we follow Christ, face a very troubling problem. We find that we just can’t do the good things we know we should do. Sometimes, we even feel a strong resistance inside us when it comes to obeying God’s will. The apostle Paul talked about this struggle in Romans 7: “We know that the law is spiritual, but I am flesh, sold as a slave to sin. I don’t understand my own actions. I don’t do what I want to do, but instead I do what I hate. And if I do what I don’t want, I am agreeing that the law is good. But really, it is not me doing it, but sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is good, but I can’t. I don’t do the good I want to do; instead, I do the evil I don’t want to do. And if I do what I don’t want to do, it is not really me doing it but sin living in me.” Even if, for a time—maybe months or even years—we feel a sense of freedom and peace in our souls, the enemy will still try to use that against us...

  “O wondrous creature, inferior only to the Creator, how much will you debase yourself? Do you love the world? But you yourself are superior to the world. Do you admire the sun? But you yourself are brighter than the sun. Do you philosophize about the harmony of the revolving heavens? But you are more sublime than the heavens. Do you examine the mysterious causes of the creation? But no creature is a greater mystery than you. Do you doubt it, when you may pass judgement on all creatures, yet none of them on you? But if you wish to judge them, then do not love them. Do not love to judge them. Love him who set you over, not under, all creatures. He set you over them not that through them you might be happier, but that he might be the one through whom you would be superior, subjecting all things to you as a crowning honor and keeping himself for you as rewarding happiness. Why then do you pursue fleeting beauties, when your own beauty neither fades with age nor grows shabby with pove...