Sue O'Donnell. 20.04.21
“I trust in Your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation.” (Psalm 13 v 5 NIV)
Lord God, Lamb of God, Spirit of God,
I address You because You are life to us.
The new life of grace gifted through Christ Jesus.
Being a perfectly holy Brother, He is our Saviour.
The punishment for our sinfulness He took.
The only Begotten Son lived, died and rose again for us.
I offer all thanks for the forgiveness now at the †.
Such love is the confidence we have, our trust.
The Lord God has acquitted us that no one can condemn us.
The Light of the world shines brightly upon us as love.
“For Christ died for us and was raised to life for us, and He is sitting in the place of honour at God’s right hand, pleading for us.” (Romans 8 v 34 NLT)
Why does not all the world recognise this?
Why do they not understand we were in dire need,
But out of loving mercy we are granted a Saviour?
Everyone who believes in Christ Jesus has eternal life,
Because He lives in them as true love is stronger by far than death.
The sinless One was made to be sin for us,
So that in Him, by the Spirit, we grow to know holiness.
We share in the blessings of Christ Jesus’ holiness.
God’s saving love is in “This holy victim, this spotless victim.” *
Christ Jesus lives in us as the Redeemer offering holy mercy, God’s peace gifted us.
(*Eucharistic Prayer offered at the celebration of Mass)
“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Hebrews 4 v 16 NLT)
“Do you realise that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you, for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart…Don’t listen to the demon, laugh at him and go without fear to receive the Jesus of peace and love.” (St Thérèse)
Dearest Father, we know we are loved and You offer us the mercy of forgiveness, because we experience Your love in Christ Jesus living within us, by means of the Holy Spirit.
Thank You that the Light of the world, the living and abiding Word of truth, triumphs over the darkness of our sinfulness. Having received the punishment we deserved, we get off scot free!
If this is not mercy, I do not know what is. The Lord Jesus’ life and death is the fulfilment of Your every promise not to abandon us in Your understandable anger, the sorrow for our sins.
You have said “ ‘Return to Me and I will return to you’.” (Zechariah 1 v 3 NLT) You are our Deliverer from all that is evil, our Protector. I praise and thank You, finding You trustworthy and true.
“ ‘If you return to Me, I will restore you so you can continue to serve Me. If you speak good words, rather than worthless ones, you will be My spokesman…I am with you to protect and rescue you’.” (Jeremiah 15 v 19, 20 NLT)
You choose to do this in a way which is recognisable to us, in sending us the Lord Jesus as Your living Word
of truth, Your offer of love, Your pledge of forgiveness for all the errors of our ways. We are redeemed and restored by grace to Your favour. Thank You so very much for the abundance of Your mercy.
In Christ Jesus we find the peace we forfeited when sin shatters our relationship with You and we become subject to satan’s power and influence. What darkness comes upon us.
But by means of the industrious Spirit, as we pray, we grow to know of Your all loving mercy as offered us in the life, death and the resurrection of our Saviour Brother. We find love is eternal. He is our Forever Saviour.
How deep, how wide, how strong, how very far reaching, how utterly life changing is the love You offer to share with us through the holiness of the Lord Jesus, the triumph over our sinfulness. The Lord Jesus enables us to enjoy Your company now and eternally.
How fully blessed we are! The strength of Your love being so powerful, it changes life for us in a radical way, Your godly way, Father. Holy love impresses upon our heart and mind to make our spirit biddable, receptive, responsive.
We recognise the love we are freely given and this changes us, gradually overcoming that self-centredness which is the basis of all sin. Literally, we begin again once we have repented of our faults and failings.
Thank You for all the Holy Spirit’s involvement in our salvation and sanctification. Thank You that He works hard to introduce us to Christ Jesus, build a friendship and maintain this. Then we find we want to please You, Father God.
Our peace is in living to delight and honour You, serving in the name of Christ Jesus, attempting to daily share in and offer His holiness to all others, making the world an altogether better, brighter, holier place to be.
Even when the charity You ask of us, expect of us, command of us, does not come readily or perhaps not fully, You are lovingly patient and do not give up on us, because we have been redeemed of sin at the †.
You now see us as the Lord Jesus’ good works in progress, the Holy Spirit toiling to bring us to the state of perfect love You hope for, ask for, demand. This is the love which is so powerful, it results not in death, but in life eternal.
We rejoice to know the holy One as our Forever Saviour, able to teach us to love and depend upon You, trust in You, for we want to become transformed by the gracious love You offer us. We want to venerate the Lord Jesus’ efforts as Saviour.
May the false values and attitudes that dictate our actions and drive us in the wrong direction, be put behind us. May we see as we pray and persevere in the practice of holiness, an increase in our devotion to each Member of the Trinity.
Let the love of the Lord Jesus shine through our efforts made towards justice and peace, the fair distribution and sharing of goods, the giving out and use of the world’s rich resources. May we work tirelessly to spread the Good News of salvation, eager to offer the love we are so profoundly blessed to receive.
Father God, problems, pain, anxiety, all manner of difficulty besiege us, surround us, threaten to swamp us. Please make us more than conquerors by the power of the Trinity’s holy love and mercy, made evident to us in Christ Jesus, by the Holy Spirit.
When we go wrong, let us return to You with repentant, contrite, sorrowful heart and mind, but also with the sure hope of forgiveness, and yet another fresh start because You are supremely rich in merciful forgiveness. Let Your love heal us of all ills, but especially our selfishness.
You brought us to life even when we were dead in transgressions. All our hope for our future is in You as a Trinity of love and mercy. Thank You for the call to live a new life as revealed to us by the Lord Jesus. May we respond wholeheartedly.
You say “ ‘I love all who love Me. Those who search will surely find Me,” (Proverbs 8 v 17 NLT) Your wisdom tells us, and by sharing Your love for us, as shown by the Lord Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, we experience this truth, thank You.
How well I remember searching for You, wanting to know You are real, holy Father. Little did I know then that all that time You were searching for me! Thank You for the work of the Holy Spirit introducing me to the Lord Jesus, so I could then meet with You. And still I keep discovering further the utter wonders of Your love for us.
As a Trinity You are our Light and our salvation, pure love and amazing grace, gifted mercifully. You are the
stronghold of our life, our trust and dependency that better is always there, waiting to be found.
Our heart tells us to seek You, Our mind tells us how and where to find Your wisdom and truth, Your power of love and forgiveness, Your incredible gift of holy mercy, dearest Father.
Thank You that we need not be afraid that You will dismiss us in anger. The † has justified our hope in Your promise to save us from satan and hell’s damnation, for we belong to Christ Jesus, Saviour of the world, that we see, experience, enjoy holy goodness even now.
“For once we were full of darkness, but now we have light from the Lord. So let us live as people of light,” (based on Ephesians 5 v 8, 9 NLT) co-workers with our Saviour Brother. “For this light within us produces only what is good and right and true.” (Cont)
The loving care You offer us, holy Father, is truly life enhancing, thank You. We delight in having a Saviour and a Sanctifier helping us to repent of evil, putting this behind us that we return from the land of the enemy.
Let us live in the light of holy love, holy peace and holy joy, for we trust in Your love and rejoice in Your mercy as You forgive us all sinfulness. Inspire and refresh us to follow the only One who is Your way, Your truth and Your life within us.
Let nothing now separate us from You, no evil influence holding us captive. Enfold us Father, in the active, protective love of Your Son and Your Spirit, such a blessing gifted us, restoring and refreshing us.
Let us pray with all thanksgiving for the beating heart of love within the Trinity, the offer of new life to all who believe in Christ Jesus as Saviour, calling on the Holy Spirit as Sanctifier. Amen.
Images by Artist Christine Garwood
http://www.christinegarwoodartist.co.uk/
Season
Key Themes
GRACE
CROSS
