We are reflecting on the Jesus Creed as Jesus’ way of spiritual formation
Hear O Israel, the Lord our God.
The Lord is One.
Love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Formation
As human beings, we long for the deep joy that comes from loving God and loving others.
Exercise 1
These are words of Jesus on spiritual formation.
Over the month of September: read – memorize – recite – reflect on these words daily.
Bask – sit in his presence and his love. Learn that love. Trust that love.
Take a few (or many) minutes to prayerfully read the Jesus Creed.
Allow this reminder of what we are called to be and do, shape our thinking and our actions.
Exercise 2
What are some of the longings of people in your circle? What are some signs of deep longings in our culture? What do we seek as a deep source of joy? What does Jesus, in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, show such longings are really for?
- How does the wedding at Cana, John 2: 1-12 help us understand joy?
- C.S. Lewis understood his life as the pursuit of joy. How does such an understanding of joy give us a deeper understanding of life?
Listen
Listen to the longings of your heart and see how they point toward Jesus. Look at the “I am” passages in John’s gospel and notice how joy is a relationship to him.
Imagine
Imagine what it would look like if your longings or yearnings were shaped toward love of God and love of other, where the deepest joy we find is in resting, abiding, living in God’s love.