Scripture Treasures

PASSION SUNDAY/PALM SUNDAY God’s Glory Revealed Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. Philippians 2:5-7 Precisely when Jesus is being handed over into his passion, he manifests his glory. “Whom do you seek?...I am he” are words that echo all the way back to Moses and the burning bush: “I am who I am. I am the one” (see Exodus 3:1-6. 14). These words are the glory of God manifesting itself, and those present fell flat on the ground. Then Jesus was handed over. But already in the handing over we see the glory of God handing himself over to us. God’s glory revealed in Jesus embraces passion as well as resurrection. “The Son of Man,” Jesus says, “must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him” (John 3:14, 15). He is

SATURDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT Praying With Open Hands My dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Ezekiel 37:27 Above all, praying means to be accepting toward God who is always new, always different. For God is a deeply moved God whose heart is greater than mine. The open acceptance of Prayer in the face of an ever-new God makes me free. In prayer, I am constantly on the way, on pilgrimage. On my way, I meet more and more people who show me something about him whom I seek. I’ll never know if I’ve reached him. But I do know that he will always be new and there is no reason for fear. Lord, I believe that in every prayer you are calling me to a new life. Take away my fears so I can respond to your call in service to others. Henri J. M. Nouwen

FRIDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT Praying With Hope Sing to the LORD; praise the LORD! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers. Jeremiah 20:13 The children of God need to support, protect, and hold one another to God’s heart. You belong to a minority in a large, hostile world. As you become more aware of your true identity as a child of God, you will also see more clearly the many forces that try to convince you that all things spiritual are false substitutes for the real things of life. When you are temporarily pulled out of your true self, you can have the sudden feeling that God is just a word, prayer is a fantasy, sanctity is a dream, and eternal life is an escape from true living. Jesus was tempted in this way, and so are we. Do not trust your thoughts and feelings when you are pulled out of yourself. Return quickly to your true place, and pay no attention to what tricked you. Gradually you will come to be more prepared for these temptations, and they

THURSDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT Prayer is Childlike, not Childish Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually. Psalm 105:4 The prayer of little faith is where you hold fast to the concrete or the present situation in order to win a certain security. In prayer of little faith, you aim at getting what you ask for, any way you can, instead of being directed toward the person who might or might not be able to make that wish come true. The man or woman of little faith prays like a child who wants a present from Santa Claus, but who becomes frightened and runs away as soon as he gets his hands on the package. He would rather have nothing more to do with the old bearded gentleman. All the attention is on the gift and none on the one who gives it. It’s as though you were putting on blinders and your spiritual life is reduced to a beeline toward what you want. Lord, most of my life prayer has meant begging for gifts I want. Teach me to focus on you, the giver of gifts. He

WEDNESDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT Recognizing Prayer as Essential If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. Daniel 3:17 The crucial question is whether you should pray always and whether your prayer is necessary. In one’s spiritual life, the stakes are all or nothing! If someone says that it’s good to turn to God in prayer for a spare minute, or if he grants that a person with a problem does well to take refuge in prayer, he has as much as admitted that praying is on the margin of life and that it doesn’t really matter. Whenever you feel that a little prayer can’t do any harm, you will find that it can’t do much good either. Prayer is prayer only when we can say that without it, a man or woman could not live. Today, I will examine my conscience to see where prayer ranks in my life, and I will pray for the grace to make it more important – perhaps the most important thing in my life. Henri J. M.

TUESDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT Prayer Means Offering All to God Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you. Psalm 102:1 To pray does not mean to think about God in contrast to thinking about other things, to spend time with God instead of spending time with other people. Rather it means to think and live in the presence of God. As soon as we begin to divide our thoughts into thoughts about God and thoughts about people and events, we remove God from our daily life and put him in a pious little niche where we can think pious thoughts and experience pious feelings. Prayer can only become unceasing prayer when all our thoughts – beautiful or ugly, high or low, proud or shameful, sorrowful or joyful – can be thought in the presence of God. The main question is not so much what we think, but to whom we present our thoughts. Lord, help me to dwell in your presence today and in moments of prayer, give thanks for the faith you have given me. Henri J. M. Nouwen

MONDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT Deep Words of Deep Trust You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Psalm 23:5 For a long time, I prayed the words, “The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me repose. Near restful waters he leads me to revive my drooping spirit.” I prayed these words in the morning for half an hour sitting quietly on my chair trying only to keep my mind focused on what I was saying. I prayed them during the many moments of the day when I was going here and there, and I even prayed them during my routine activities…it is good to know that millions of people have prayed these same words over the centuries and found comfort and consolation in them. I am not alone when I pray these words. I am surrounded by countless women and men, those who are close by and those who are far away, those who are presently living and those who have died recently o

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT Source of Our Joy Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. Psalm 51:12 Joy does not come from positive predictions about the state of the world. It does not depend on the ups and downs of the circumstances of our lives. Joy is based on the spiritual knowledge that, while the world in which we live is shrouded in darkness, God has overcome the world. Jesus says it loudly and clearly: “In the world you will have troubles, but rejoice, I have overcome the world.” The surprise is not that, unexpectedly, things turn out better than expected. No, the real surprise is that God’s light is more real than all the darkness, that God’s truth is more powerful than all human lies, that God’s love is stronger than death. Lord, help me to see that I don’t have to overcome the troubles of the world by myself. Help me trust in what Jesus has already done. Henri J. M. Nouwen

  SATURDAY, FOUrTH WEEK OF LENT Presence in Prayer O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish righteous, you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God. Psalm 7:9 God is beyond, beyond our heart and mind, beyond our feelings and thoughts, beyond our expectations and desires, and beyond all the events and experiences that make up our life. Still, he is in the center of all of it. Here we would touch the heart of prayer since here it becomes manifest that in prayer the distinction between God’s presence is never separated from his absence and God’s absence is never separated from his presence. His presence is so much beyond the human experience of being together that quite easily is perceived as absence. His absence, on the other hand is often so deeply felt that it leads to a new sense of his presence. Lord, I believe you are never absent – help my unbelief! Henri J. M. Nouwen

FRIDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF LENT The Path to Glory The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD rescues them from them all. Psalm 34:17, 18 Jesus’ own suffering was brought upon him by the forces of darkness. Still he speaks about his suffering and death as his way to glory. It is very hard to keep bringing all our past under the light of gratitude. There are so many things about which we feel guilt and shame, so many things we simply wish had never happened. But each time we have the courage to look at “the all of it” and to look at it as God looks at it, our guilt becomes a happy guilt and our shame a happy shame because they have brought us to a deeper recognition of God’s mercy, a stronger conviction of God’s guidance, and a more radical commitment to a life in God’s service. Once all our past is remembered in gratitude, we are free to be sent into the world to proclaim good news to others. Just as

THURSDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF LENT Seeking a Spiritual Atmosphere How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? John 5:44 We cannot live a spiritual life alone. The life of the Spirit is like a seed that needs fertile ground to grow. This fertile ground includes not only a good inner disposition, but also a supportive milieu. It is hard to live a life of prayer in a milieu where no one prays or speaks lovingly about prayer. It is nearly impossible to deepen our communion with God when those with whom we live and work reject or even ridicule the idea that there is a loving God. It is a superhuman task to keep setting our hearts on the kingdom when all those whom we know and talk with are setting their hearts on everything but the kingdom…when we are serious about living a spiritual life we are responsible for the milieu where it can grow and mature. Although we might not be able to create the ideal context

  WEDNESDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF LENT The Joy of God’s Presence Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his suffering ones. Isaiah 49:13 Money and success do not make us joyful. In fact many wealthy and successful people are also anxious, fearful, and often quite sombre. In contrast, many others who are very poor laugh very easily and often show great joy. Joy and laughter are the gifts of living in the presence of God and trusting that tomorrow is not worth worrying about. It always strikes me that rich people have much money, while poor people have much time. And where there is much time life can be celebrated. There is no reason to romanticize poverty, but when I see the fears and anxieties of many who have all the goods the world has to offer, I can understand Jesus’ words: “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Money and success are not the problem; t

TUESDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF LENT Like a Breath of Fresh Air God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1 Perhaps the challenge of the Gospel lies precisely in the invitation to accept a gift for which we can give nothing in return. For the gift is the life breath of God himself, the Spirit who is poured out on us through Jesus Christ. This life breath frees us from fear and gives us new room to live. A man who prayerfully goes about his life is constantly ready to receive the breath of God, and to let his life be renewed and expanded. The man who never prays, on the contrary, is like the child with asthma; because he is short of breath, the whole world shrivels up before him. He creeps in a corner gasping for air, and is virtually in agony. But the man who prays opens himself to God and can freely breathe again. He stands upright stretches out his hands and comes out of his corner, free to boldly stride through the world because he can move about without

MONDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF LENT Waiting For the Hidden God Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, by my helper! Psalm 30:10 We long for intimacy with God. But the intimacy with God in our earthly existence will always remain an intimacy that transcends human intimacy and is experienced in a faithful waiting on him who came but is still to come. Although at exceptional moments we may be overwhelmed by a deep sense of God’s presence in the center of our solitude and in the midst of the space we create for others, more often than not we are left with the painful sense of emptiness and can only experience God as the absent God. Lord, may I learn to praise you at all times – not just when you seem close to me. Henri J. M. Nouwen

FOUTH SUNDAY OF LENT Creating Space For Compassion For by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8, 9 In the house of God there are many mansions. There is a place for everyone – a unique, special place. Once we deeply trust that we ourselves are precious in God’s eyes, we are able to recognize the preciousness of others and their unique places in God’s heart. This makes me think of Helen. One of our handicapped members of our community. When she came to Daybreak a few years ago, I felt quite distant from her, even a bit afraid. She lived in a little world of her own, only uttering distracting noises and never making any personal contact. But as we came to know her better and trusted that she, too, has a unique gift to offer, she gradually came out of her isolation, started to smile at us and became a great source of joy to the whole community. I now realize tha

SATURDAY, THIRD WEEK OF LENT After Silence Comes Joy Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD; his appearing is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth. Hosea 6:3 There is a quality of sadness that pervades all the moments of our life. It seems that there is no such thing as clear-cut pure joy, but that even in the most happy moments of our existence we sense a tinge of sadness. In every satisfaction, there is the fear of jealousy. Behind every smile, there is a tear. In every embrace, there is loneliness. In every friendship, distance. And in all forms of light, there is the knowledge of surrounding darkness. Joy and sadness are as close to each other as the splendid coloured leaves of a New England fall to the soberness of the barren trees. When you touch the hand of a returning friend, you already know that he will never have to leave you again. When you are moved by the quiet vastness of a sun-covered ocean, yo

FRIDAY, THIRD WEEK OF LENT Prayer Renews I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily, he shall strike root like the forests of Lebanon. Hosea 14:5 Deep silence leads us to suspect that, in the first place, prayer is acceptance. A person who prays is one who stands with his hands open in the world. He knows that God will show himself in the nature which surrounds him, in the people he meets, in the situations he runs into. He trusts that the world holds God’s secret within it, and he expects that secret to be shown to him. Prayer creates that openness where God can give himself to man. Indeed, God wants to give himself; he wants to surrender himself to the man he has created, he even begs to be admitted into the human heart. The openness, however, does not simply come of itself. It requires our confession that we are limited, dependent, weak and even sinful. Whenever you pray, you profess that you are not God and that you wouldn’t want to be, that you haven’t

THURSDAY, THIRD WEEK OF LENT Listening To the Voice of Love O that today you would listen to his voice! Do not harden your hearts…Psalm 95:7, 8 Prayer is the discipline of the moment. When we pray, we enter into the presence of God whose name is God-with-us. To pray is to listen attentively to the One who addresses us here and now. When we dare to trust that we are never alone but that God is always with us, always cares for us, and always speaks to us, then we can gradually detach ourselves to dwell in the present moment. This is a very hard challenge because radical trust in God is not obvious. Most of us distrust God. Most of us think God is a fearful, punitive authority or as empty, powerless nothing. Jesus’ core message was that God is neither a powerless weakling nor a powerful boss, but a lover, whose only desire is to give us what our hearts most desire. Lord, to make sure I am not using my solitude as an escape, I resolve anew to live patiently and kindly with those ar

WEDNESDAY, THIRD WEEK OF LENT Broken Soil And what other great nation has statues and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today? But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind…Deuteronomy 4:8, 9 The seeds of national and international peace are already mysteriously sown in the soil of our own pain and in the suffering of the poor. And I am convinced that we can truly trust these seeds like the mustard seeds of the gospel that grow and produce large shrubs in which many birds of the air can find a place to rest. As long as we imagine and live as if there is no peace in sight, and that it all depends on us to make it come about, we are on the road to self-destruction. But when we trust that the God of love has already given the peace we are searching for, we will see this peace breaking through the broken soil of our human condition and we will be able to let

TUESDAY, THIRD WEEK OF LENT Surprised By Joy Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O LORD! Psalm 25:7 As we grow old, we will have to stretch our arms, be guided and led to places we would rather not go. What was true for Peter will be true for us. There is suffering ahead of us, immense suffering, a suffering that will continue to tempt us to think that we have chosen the wrong road and that others were more shrewd than we were. But don’t be surprised by pain. Be surprised by joy, be surprised by the little flower that shows its beauty in the midst of a barren desert, and be surprised by the immense healing power that keeps bursting forth like springs of fresh water from the depths of our pain. And so, with an eye focused on the poor, a heart trusting that we will get what we need, and a spirit always surprised by joy, we will exercise true power and walk through this valley of darkness p

MONDAY, THIRD WEEK OF LENT Entering the Silence Within As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. Psalm 42:1 Have you ever tried to spend a whole hour doing nothing but listening to the voice that dwells deep in your heart? When there is no radio to listen to, no TV to watch, no book to read, no person to talk to, no project to finish, no phone call to make, how does that make you feel? Often it does no more than make us so aware of how much there is still to do that we haven’t done yet that we decide to leave the fearful silence and go back to work! It is not easy to enter into the silence and reach beyond the many boisterous and demanding voices of our world and to discover there the small intimate voice saying: “You are my beloved Child, on you my favor rests.” Still, if we dare to embrace our solitude and befriend our silence, we will come to know that voice. I do not want to suggest to you that one day you will hear that voice with bodily ears. I a

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT God Chose to Reveal Divine Love For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. 1 Corinthians 1:22, 23 The powerlessness of the manger became the powerlessness of the cross. People jeer, laugh at him, spit in his face, and shout: “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him” (Matthew 27:42). He hangs there, his flesh torn apart by lead-filled whips, his heart broken by the rejection of his friends and abuse from his enemies, his mind tortured by anguish, his spirit shrouded in the darkness of abandonment – total weakness, total powerlessness. That’s how God chose to reveal to us the divine love, bring us back into an embrace of compassion, and convince us that anger has been melted away in endless mercy. Henri J. M. Nouwen

SATURDAY, SECOND WEEK OF LENT Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Psalm 103:1 To care means first of all to empty our own cup and allow the other to come close to us. It means to take away the many barriers which prevent us from entering into communion with the other. When we dare to care, we discover that nothing human is foreign to us, but that all the hatred and love, cruelty and compassion, fear and joy can be found in our own hearts. When we dare to care, we have to confess that when others kill, I could have killed too. When others torture, I could have done the same. When others heal, I could have healed too and when others give life, I could have done the same. Then we experience that we can be present to the soldier who kills, to the guard who pesters, to the young man who plays as if life has no end, and to the old man who stopped playing out of fear of death. By the honest recognition and confession of our human sameness we can part

FRIDAY, SECOND WEEK OF LENT Knowing A Faithful God So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; and they took him and threw him into a pit. Genesis 37:23, 24 Only if you pray with hope can you break through the barriers of death. For no longer do you want to know what it will be like after you die, what heaven exactly will mean, how you will be eternal, or how the risen Lord will show himself. You don’t let yourself be distracted by daydreams where all your conflicting desires are satisfied in a wish-come-true hereafter. When you pray with hope, you turn yourself toward a God who will bring forth his promises; it is enough to know that he is a faithful God. This hope gives you a new freedom which lets you look realistically at life without feeling dejected. Lord, may I learn to pray in ever deeper hope this Lent. Henri J. M. Nouwen

THURSDAY, SECOND WEEK OF LENT Joy Is More Than Happiness Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is in the LORD. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. Jeremiah 17:7, 8 Joy is essential to the spiritual life. Whatever we may think or say about God, when we are not joyful, our thoughts and words cannot bear fruit. Jesus reveals to us God’s love so that his joy may become ours and that our joy may become complete. Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing – sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death – can take that love away. Joy is not the same as happiness. We can be unhappy about many things, but joy can still be there because it comes from the knowledge of God’s love for us. We are inclined to think that when w

WEDNESDAY, SECOND WEEK OF LENT God Gives Us Love As We Need It But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors. Psalm 31:14, 15 There are two realities to which you must cling. First, God has promised that you will receive the love you have been searching for. And second, God is faithful to that promise. So stop wandering around. Instead, come home and trust that God will bring you what you need. Your whole life you have been running about, seeking the love you desire. Now it is time to end that search. Trust that God will give you that all-fulfilling love and will give it in a human way. Before you die, God will offer you the deepest satisfaction you can desire. Just stop running and start trusting and receiving. Home is where you are truly safe. It is where you can receive what you desire. You need human hands to hold you there so you don’t run away again. But when you come home and stay home

TUESDAY, SECOND WEEK OF LENT The Power of Weakness The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted. Matthew 23:11, 12 God chose to enter into human history in complete weakness. That divine choice forms the center of the Christian faith. In Jesus of Nazareth, the powerlessness of God appeared among us to unmask the illusion of power, to disarm the prince of darkness who rules the world, and to bring the divided human race to a new unity. It is through total and unmitigated powerlessness that God shows us divine mercy. The radical, divine choice is the choice to reveal glory, beauty, truth, peace, joy, and, most of all, love in and through the divestment of power. It is very hard – if not impossible – for us to grasp this divine mystery. We keep praying to the “almighty and powerful God.” But all might and power is absent from the one who reveals God to us saying: “When you see me, you see the Fat

MONDAY, SECOND WEEK OF LENT The Honesty of Compassion Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Luke 6:37 Compassion means to become close to the one who suffers. But we can come close to another only when we are willing to become vulnerable ourselves. A compassionate person says: “I am your brother; I am your sister; I am human, fragile, and mortal, just like you. I am not scandalized by your tears, nor afraid of your pain. I too have wept. I too have felt pain.” We can be with the other only when the other ceases to be “other” and becomes like us. This, perhaps, is the main reason that we sometimes find it easier to show pity than compassion. The suffering person calls us to become aware of our own suffering. How can I respond to someone’s loneliness unless I am in touch with my own experience of loneliness? How can I be close to handicapped people when I refuse to acknowledge my own handicaps? How can I be with poor when I am unwi