Lectio Divina Reading

September 9, 2004

1 Corinthians 8:1B-7, 11-13

We know that "all of us possess knowledge." Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge, but anyone who loves God is known by him. Hence as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that "no idol in the world really exists," and that "there is no God but one."

Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth-as in fact there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak is defiled.

So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. But when you thus sin against members of your family and wound their conscience when it is weak you sin against Christ. Therefore if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.

1 John 4:12

If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.

Loving God, that you would think my heart capable of belonging to you! You have filled my life with your goodness in so many ways. I hear the call to give myself to your love in an ever deeper and more complete way. I long to follow you so totally that you are evident in every fiber of my life.

I pray for faith, that long-lasting, true sense of you that weathers all storms, that comes across the waters bravely when you ask for me, that sinks into your love and lets go of anxieties and worries, that looks long into the eyes of others’ sufferings, that takes care to be gentle with sinners and those whose lives are never free from intense pain of body or spirit.

I pray for love, that great and generous-enough love that looks compassionately upon all, that love which accepts others with their mystery, doubt, hesitation, that love which reaches out even though there is no response in return, that love which is patient and kind, that kind of love, which is your love, never jealous, boastful or conceited, that love which is never rude or selfish but rather, always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes.

I yearn for you to be the intimate Master, the one at whose feet I can sit and ponder the message, the one whose hand I can hold and walk with when I am afraid, the one at whose side I can sit as we taste the meal, the one whose robe I can touch, even in the crowd.

I will follow. I will rejoice in loving you and being loved by you. I need to hear your voice over and over and over again. I need to keep reclaiming all the intimacy you hold out to me. I need to let go of all the selfishness that binds me. I need to believe that you want to win over my heart completely.

O Jesus, master, shepherd, lover, leader! Here I am again. Please claim me as your own.

Lectio Divina for CP Groups
Contemplative Outreach of Dallas