If you remember film cameras then you probably remember “Kodak Moments”.  These were the moments that were so special that we recorded them on Kodak film, or at least that’s what the company wanted us to use.  I always preferred Agfa Professional but I digress; sorry.

Have you ever had a moment when you felt that you and your life had been touched by the finger of God?  Most of life seems to be a pretty mundane struggle.  My ten-year-old son recently observed, “Dad, you get up in the morning, go to work, come home, eat, help me with my homework, talk to mom, read me a story and then read your Bible.  Every day is the same.  Is that what will happen to me when I grow up?  I don’t want to grow up!”  My life really isn’t that mundane but it must seem so to my ten-year-old son.

However, once in a while something miraculous happens and for a moment we feel the Divine in our lives.  Those are the Kodak moments.  You can’t take a picture of them, but please, cherish and remember them.  Cling to them so when life does get mundane, monotonous, or down right hard you can remember who you really are; a daughter or son of God and that His love has touched you.

Bro. Dave, Abbot

St. Brendan’s Celtic Christian Monastery is a non-denominational, online monastery without wall that accepts Christians, female and male, of all religious traditions who are on a contemplative path to God into the order. To learn more about Our Monastery please visit us.

As I was kayaking this past weekend my thoughts turned to St. Brendan as his epic journey from Ireland, to the New Word, and back again.  I spent about three hours navigating a lake in Central Virginia.  St. Brendan spent much longer in the North Atlantic.  I was always in sight of shore, he was not.  I with my high-tech kayak, he most likely in a hand-made currach.  We really didn’t have much in common; just one thing, our trust in the Lord.

From Carmina Gadelica, Vol 1, No 11:

One of my son’s is a sprinter in high school. His coach reminds the sprinters from time-to-time that the race starts when they explode off the blocks, but that’s not where the race ends. They have to “put out” all the way to the finish line. In fact, he wants them to save some “kick” for the finish line. You know, lean in and push even harder as you cross the line.

In 1 John 3:4 we read the definition of sin: “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” For there to be sin there must be a law as shown in the diagram below. The result of sin is death, “For the wages of sin is death. . . “ (Romans 6:23, KJV) and death, eternal death, is separation from God. This is the state, before Christ’s atoning sacrifice that we are all found it because as in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (KJV).

However, because of Christ’s atoning sacrifice we are justified. Justification in God’s court on high is the legal act of declaring that one is righteous, not free from sin, not changed into a perfect, sinless being, but righteous. Christ’s righteousness is imputed onto the sinner. We see this in Philippians 3:8-9, “. . . so that I may gain Christ, ⁹and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,”. This process of justification is illustrated in the following diagram.

However, justification is not automatic and not all are justified. Justification flows from or is a product of our faith. This is probably most obvious in Galatians 2:16, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” (KJV).

Notice in my diagram above, justification is way around the law. Romans 5:1-2 teaches us the same, “ ¹Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.” (NIV, emphasis added).

By now I hope you are wondering what all of this has to do with my son, the sprinter. Exploding off the blocks is the beginning of the race. For us having faith and then witnessing that faith through baptism is the same. I’m afraid the too many Christians don’t understand the difference between justification and sanctification my two “ions” and fall into the trap of thinking that the race is over when the confess Christ, when the race has really just begun.

Take a look at 1 Corinthians 9:27, “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” (KJV). What’s up with Paul? He has been preaching faith, repentance, baptism, justification, and grace and he is worried about becoming a castaway? I don’t think he was worried about losing his justification or salvation, because that comes from grace, but rather sanctification and glorification. He was worried about losing his inheritance.

We need to back up a little now to 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 where Paul said, “²⁴Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. ²⁷No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” (NIV).

Justification isn’t the prize, it’s a gift. I think that we get some hints about the “prize” that Paul was worried about in his letter to the Colossians: “¹Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. . . . ²³Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, ²⁴since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. ²⁵Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.” (Col 3:1-4, 23-25, NIV).

Justification is a free gift, well free that is as long as we have faith in Christ. Our inheritance on the other hand will be determined by what we do and how we live, by what kinds of Christians we really are. Have you ever wondered about the Judgement Seat of Christ? After if we are saved by faith alone, justified by our faith in Him, then why a judgement?

Let’s go take a look at what Paul had to say one last time, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (2 Cor 5:10, NIV). What we do after faith, repentance, and baptism really do matter. Our actions, the way we live our lives, matter. So dear monks and friends, let’s not lose sight of the reward and run our race so that we can say, as did Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.” (2 Tim 4:7, NLT).

My prayer today is that all of us may be united one day, together, in the Kingdom of God as faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.

Bro. Dave, Abbot

St. Brendan’s Celtic Christian Monastery is a non-denominational, online monastery without wall that accepts Christians, female and male, of all religious traditions who are on a contemplative path to God into the order.  To learn more about Our Monastery please visit us.

In our politically correct society there seems to be a tendency to want to be “good”, often at the expense of being “right”. Today, someone who is “good” doesn’t say things that might hurt another’s feelings but rather uses language in ways to avoid confronting problems and thus ensure that everyone feels good.

Words are the mental tools that we use to think. Our choice of words, or the word choices that society presents us with, constrain our thinking. Words are the lens that color the way we see the world. The words that we can use frame the questions that we ask and the ways that we formulate our answers. Words control our thinking.

For example my youngest son became a proud graduate of 5^th grade this past Spring. In his school, there were “no losers, only winners.” Students who did poorly on exams weren’t told, “Sorry, you failed the exam. I suggest you study harder next time.” “Failure” was not an allowed word choice in his school. They were told, “You were study challenged (whatever that is) and now that you know what the questions on the test are, why don’t you take it over. I’m sure you will do better the second time.” This attitude use to drive my son crazy, “Like dad, why can’t they study and do it right the first time?”.

I had a student last year who failed my required course . . . for the fourth time (twice with me, twice with another professor). We had a talk after the failed final exam and I was told by the student, “I have taken this class four times, I think that I deserve at least a ‘C’ in the class. I have been told that I’m ‘differentially abled’. I’m not able to study like the other students because studying is boring.”

In both of these examples the truth had been hidden from the students by feel-good language. Words like, “study challenged” and “differentially abled” were used so that some teacher in the past wouldn’t feel like the “heavy” telling the student the truth, and the student wouldn’t feel bad by being told, “You didn’t study hard enough, you need to study harder.” or “You are lazy. Quit playing video games in the dorm and study!”

The concept of sin has almost disappeared from our society because it’s not politically correct to talk about it. The problem with that is that if we can’t talk about sin then we can’t talk about righteousness either. Without darkness there in no light, everything becomes a boring shade of grey. Remember what the Lord does with shades-of-grey (lukewarm) Christians? Try Revelation 3:16 if you don’t remember, “So then because thou art lukewarm [a shade of grey], and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” (KJV).

I don’t like lukewarm food. I want my hot food hot, and my cold food cold. I don’t want lukewarm believers, fair-weather believers, shades-of-grey believers, or pastors who won’t tell the truth because the truth hurts. While society’s version of what is right and wrong may change I don’t think that the Lord’s view of right and wrong changes with every shift of the breeze that moves society, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” (Heb 13:8, KJV).

I chose to be on the Lord’s side (Joshua 24:15), to think about the words that I use and the words that society tries to impose on me, so that my thinking is clear and consistent with Biblical truth, and most of all not to be lukewarm.

May God hold you in the palm of His hand, this day and always,

Bro. Dave, Abbot

St. Brendan’s Celtic Christian Monastery is a non-denominational, online monastery without wall that accepts Christians, female and male, of all religious traditions who are on a contemplative path to God into the order.  To learn more about Our Monastery please visit us.

Abraham’s Departure By Jozsef Molnar

Mark Twain, one of my favorite American humorists and authors, once said, “Faith is believing something you know ain’t true.” Another definition of faith is that it is the belief in something that is hoped for, but for which one has no firm knowledge. After all, if you know that something is true then faith is unnecessary.

I have a different view of faith. Before I give my definition I want to motivate it with an example. I have faith in my wife, Heidi. We have been married for almost 18 years and have obviously (I hope) known each other for longer than that. I think that I know her pretty well and she knows me really well. We often say the same thing in unison, we finish each others’ sentences, and we trust each other. She recently spent over a month in South America, all alone by the way. I worried about her safety, but I didn’t worry that she wouldn’t be true to me. She has demonstrated over and over that I can trust her. In fact, she is so trust worthy that the idea of her not being true doesn’t enter into my mind. I have faith in her. Mark Twain, I’m not trying to believe something that I know isn’t true. I have faith because repeated experiences with Heidi have taught me that I can trust her.

To me then, faith is trust that flows from repeated positive experiences. I have the same kind of faith in God. I trust Him because repeated experiences, mine, others, and historical accounts from the scriptures have demonstrated to me that He is consistent, caring, and reliable. I know that if I put my faith (trust) in Him, He won’t let me down.

Have you ever gone through a team building workshop? I lead them from time to time. One of the group exercises that we do is the backwards fall. One team member crosses her arms, closes her eyes, and then falls backwards. The rest of the team is standing behind her with out-stretched arms ready to catch her as she falls. This exercise is designed to teach team members that they can trust (have faith) in each other when they fall . . . the team will lift them up. Do we have the same kind of faith in God? Are we willing to close our eyes, fold our arms, and fall backwards into the unknown, trusting that He will be there to catch us?  To lift us up?

Another team building exercise that I enjoy using is the mine field. One team member is left blindfolded, leaning against a wall at the far end of a large room (a gymnasium works great for this). Another team member walks to the opposite wall and waits while the rest of the team sets up obstacles, things like folding chairs, trash cans, tennis balls, etc. The obstacles literally litter the floor. Once ready, the guiding team member calls out to his blindfolded colleague and tells him to start walking. The guide has to give the blindfolded team members instructions, turn left, take three steps, turn right, stop, backup one step . . . to safely lead his “blind” colleague through the mine field. Do we have the same kind of trust (faith) in God. He can see our mine field and wants to guide us through it. For that to happen we have to (1) be listening and (2) be willing to follow His instructions.

Abram had that kind of trust (faith). God said, “Abram it’s time to get out of Ur.” My response might have been, “Why? Now? Where are we going? Can this wait? I’ve got some really important stuff to do first.  I’ve got to liquidate my inventory and raise some cash if we are going on a road trip.” Abram didn’t say that, he loaded his family into the van and left town, then and there. No questions asked, and he got directions along the way. You know the rest of the story. Abram continued with the same kind of rapid and complete obedience that is born out of complete trust (faith) and became Abraham, the father of nations.

Monks and friends of our Monastery, I hope that all of us can develop the same kind of faith (trust) in God that Abraham had. I have a feeling, the way the world is going, that we are going to need it.

May God hold you in the palm of His hand, this day and always,

Bro. Dave, Abbot

St. Brendan’s Celtic Christian Monastery is a non-denominational, online monastery without wall that accepts Christians, female and male, of all religious traditions into the order.  To learn more about Our Monastery please visit us.

I was thinking last night and again I was surprised when it happened.  It seems like I, like so many people, go through most of life on autopilot.  Anyway, I was thinking about my students at the university where I teach and how they seem to constantly compartmentalize their knowledge.  For example, a lot of what they learn in intermediate microeconomics is valuable in the graduate decision making course that I teach.  However it seems that, in their minds, microeconomics was a different course and so that box full of knowledge doesn’t get opened up in my class; that is, unless I open the box for them.

That problem seems to be endemic.  For example we all have physical, financial, and spiritual lives but we seem to keep them separate:

A Compartmentalized Life

We act as if there were no connections or spillovers from one part of our life to another.  We don’t realize and consequently don’t act as if one part of our life influences another.  But they do.  Financial resources affect what you are able to do in your physical life.  Physical well-being affects how hard you can work and play and consequently your financial life.  Our spiritual lives should be the foundation of our lives but for way too many Christians the spiritual life is confined to 90 minutes as a passive spectator at church once a week.

I really don’t think that is what God had in mind for us when we were created.  My view of a real life is:

A Complete, Whole Life

In this view of life our physical, financial and spiritual lives are all part of the whole; with the spiritual life on the bottom as the foundation.  We shouldn’t be a single being experience three different lives, but rather a spiritual being experiencing all of life.

Some time ago I wrote a blog post on being perfect (Me? Perfect?) based on Matthew 5:48.  The admonition to be perfect isn’t just a New Testament idea.  We find it all the way back in Genesis, “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” (Genesis 17:1, KJV).  In Hebrew that command to be perfect comes from the work tamiym which means to be complete, to be whole, to be entire, to be unimpaired, to be healthful, to have integrity, and to be according to the truth.

When we are complete, whole and entire we realize that we have only one life and that all of its parts are interrelated, connected and comprise the whole.  We also walk in the truth and realize that our relationship with Our Creator should inform and motivate all that we are and do.

And so fellow monks, friends and readers, let’s find ways to be whole and to integrate our being with God as our foundation and the Lord as our guide.

Bro. Dave

St. Brendan’s Celtic Christian Monastery is a non-denominational, online monastery without wall that accepts Christians, female and male, of all religious traditions into the order.  To learn more about Our Monastery please visit us.

Be as one of these . . .

In Matthew 11:29 we read, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”  (KJV).  I have always wondered about that verse.  If we take His yoke upon us does that mean that we are to be meek as well?  And if so, what does it mean to be meek?

Paul, for me at least, reinforces that idea that we are to be like Christ in all that we do.  He wrote, “That I may know Him . . . and the fellowship of his sufferings . . . ” (Phil 3:10, KJV).  Years ago this verse lead me to my Great Question.  I have had a lot of Big Questions; questions like, “Why was I born?”, and “What is the purpose of my life?”., and “What is smaller than a quark?”.  However, for me that Great Question became, “Was Christ real and did He atone for my sins?”  Once I was able to honestly answer that question for myself the other questions became easier and less pressing.

Here are a couple of word lists for you.  The first column contains a list of synonyms for the word “meek” and the second lists a few antonyms.

Now I ask you, which list of words would you like your friends to use to describe you?  Do you like to hang out with people from the first or second list?  What word do we often place after the word, “pompous”?   Is that the kind of descriptor that you would like used to describe you, or your friends?

A related scripture that I particularly enjoy is 2 Peter 1:5-9:

^“5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
⁶ And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
⁷ And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
⁸ For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
⁹ But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” (KJV).

I use this verse almost every night when I review the day and ask myself whether or not I manifested the qualities that Peter listed as I interacted with others.  Most days I fall short, but this verse gives me a meter stick that I can use to measure my performance.

In the last verse above Peter mentions that those who don’t have these qualities “cannot see far off”.  To me this means that they are short sighted, myopic, and probably can’t see beyond the end of their noses.

And so my fellow monks and friends take a few minutes this weekend and think about the kind of person that you are, and the kind of person that you would like to be.  Which list of descriptors would you like someone to place upon your tombstone some day, or read as part of your eulogy?  I sure don’t want someone to read, “I remember Dave, he was the most most haughty, arrogant, conceited and pompous person that ever walked the face of the earth . . .” at my funeral.

May God hold you in the palm of His hand as we walk together in meekness,

Bro. Dave

St. Brendan’s Celtic Christian Monastery is a non-denominational, online monastery without wall that accepts Christians, female and male, of all religious traditions into the order.  To learn more about Our Monastery please visit us.

I’m not really into memorizing Bible verses, it just sort of happens when I read the same verse over and over again.  I memorized 1 John 4:8 that way.  I really wasn’t trying to memorize it, it just happened through repetitive readings.  Anyway, here it is:

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”  (1 John 4:8, NIV)

Now, stay with me and let’s have some fun.  We read the creation story in Genesis and you might recall that on the sixth day of creation God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).  It’s popular in some circles to get into the “God is spirit we are physical” debate . . . let’s not go there.  I want to go back to 1 John 4:8 with a couple of propositions:

1. God is love
2. We are created in the image or likeness of God
3. QED we are love

If I am made in the image of God and God is love then the reason for my existence is to love.  Love should be my identity.  Love should be my raison d’être, my reason for being. Love should be manifest in my every action and in my character.  Love should be who/what I am.

Maybe that’s why the first great commandment is to love God (Matt 22:37-38) and the second is similar, that we should love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt 22:39).  It’s not too hard to love our neighbors, after all, they are people like us (PLUs).  We all live in the same neighborhood for a reason, we like to surround ourselves with PLUs.  But wait.  There was more.  Christ didn’t end there did He?  He told us to love our enemies and do go to those who hate us (Luke 6:27).  That’s a little harder. 

Remember your PLU neighbor that is easy to love (the one you might even see at church on Sunday); can you love his teenaged son at 2:00 in the morning when he pulls into the driveway with his stereo blazing away rocking all the windows in your house?  Don’t you just love that 1,000 watt amplifier that he stuck in his car followed by a line of 12 inch speakers that replaced that back seats in his car?  Great sound . . . from a mile away . . . but not at 2:00 in the morning, please.  Love him too.

The Kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:21, see note below).  God’s Kingdom could never be a kingdom of envy, hate, strive, discord, anger.  It would be/is a kingdom of peace and love.  If that Kingdom is within us then we too must live like citizens of that Kingdom.

My big question for today is, God is love . . . are you?  Am I?

I hope that you find love and that you are love,

Bro. Dave

St. Brendan’s Celtic Christian Monastery is a non-denominational, online monastery without wall that accepts Christians, female and male, of all religious traditions into the order.  To learn more about Our Monastery please visit us.

Note on Luke 17:21:  Some modern translations of the Bible replace “within” with the words “in your midst” which makes the Kingdom external to us.  The actual word in Greek is ἐντὸς which usually translates as “within”, “in”, and “inside”.  I don’t know, but I wonder if some translators are uncomfortable with a Kingdom that is inside of us.  I’m not, it gives me a warm, fuzzy, Kingdom glowing within kind of feeling.

Christian bashing has become a pretty popular sport in these parts, and I live in a “Christian” community.  I’m a non-denominational Christian but I read a lot, including the writing of some of the popes.  Pius XII wrote, way back in 1953, that “We belong to the Church Militant; and she is militant because on earth the powers of darkness are ever restless to encompass her destruction.”  It got me thinking that we, in this age when Christianity is becoming unpopular, need to be more militant.

I’m a frequent biker.  No not a motorcycle, a real bicycle that I have to pedal.  I keep looking for a ride that would be straight, smooth, downhill all the way and please, with a tail wind too.  I have never found that ride.  The rides around here go up and down hills, lots of curves, and I loose the tail wind with every curve and have to ride into the wind to the next curve.   Not only that I have to dodge potholes in the road and watch out for drivers that seem to think that bike riders are invisible.  My walk as a Christian is much the same.

Christ never promised that our path would be easy.  His wasn’t and as we follow Him should we really expect that our Christian road will be straight, smooth, and always downhill?

Matthew 10 gives us an idea of what we should expect and what we should prepare for.  Here are just a few verses, I suggest that you read the entire chapter (you also might want to take a look at (2 Timothy 1:6-12):

“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves . . .:  (Matt 10:16)

“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”  (Matt 10:22)

“But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another . . . ”  (Matt 10:23)

And probably my favorite in Matt 10 is the following:

“The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?”  (Matt 10:24-25).  That is where I learned not to expect an easy walk.

So what should we do?  Here are a few ideas:

• Put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-17)
• Comfort one another (1 Thess 4:13-18)
• Pray always (Luke 21:36)

I’m sure that you have other ideas and scriptures that you use in this context.  If you would like to share them with other readers of the monastery blog then please use the contact page to send them to me and I’ll consolidate them and include them in a future blog.

May God hold you in the palm of His hands,

Bro. Dave

St. Brendan’s Celtic Christian Monastery is a non-denominational, online monastery without wall that accepts Christians, female and male, of all religious traditions into the order.  To learn more about Our Monastery please visit us.

Christ, the Good Shepherd

Years ago, in the days before the internet so you can guess just how long ago, I spent a term as a Fulbright Scholar in Lima, Peru, teaching at the Universidad de Lima and the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP).  The Dean of the College where I was teaching at the PUCP  became a good friend.  One weekend he asked me to accompany him to visit a Franciscan Friar who was the shepherd of one of the pueblos jóvenes (shanty towns) on the edge of Lima.

We drove to the outskirts of Lima to a settlement where the “houses” were build of flattened tin cans and cardboard boxes.  The “roads” were unpaved paths in the dirt and the only water was supplied by spigots on street corners.  Rounding a corner we arrived at our destination; a small adobe church built in the center of a courtyard.  The courtyard was surrounded by an adobe wall about seven feet tall.  All long the wall, around the inside perimeter, were workshops.  I took a quick look around and saw a carpenter’s shop with men and boys making rustic furniture.  Next to it was a cobbler’s shop with rows of worn-out shoes awaiting repair.  A little further down the wall was a seamstress shop with women and girls cutting cloth at tables and others hard at work at a couple of sewing machines.  There was a knitting shop with manual knitting machines where women were knitting sweaters.  Other workshops contained a small appliance repair shop, a bicycle repair shop, a thrift store . . . and there were more.

The Priest, Father Eduardo, came out to greet us and in response to my rather quizzical look he replied, “These are my sheep, I am feeding my sheep.”  He went on to explain that the members of his community had recently come down from the mountains to escape the Shining Path Gorillas who were active in the mountain regions of Peru.  They brought with them what they could carry and left everything else behind, including their farms.  He said that it was hard to fill their souls at Mass when their stomachs made so much noise that they couldn’t hear him.

He had been given a significant amount of money to build a church but decided to spend the money building and equipping workshops so that the members of his community could learn skills and support themselves.  With the little money that was left, and a lot of volunteer labor from his parishioners, he build the small adobe church.

I turned to my friend and said that this was really impressive but asked why we were  there.  He explained that the Priest needed help.  He reminded me that I was a CPA and a college professor and that I understood business.  All of the workshops were losing money, could I please help?  I did, but that’s not the purpose of this post.

The Priest was a good shepherd.  Recall the good shepherd of Biblical fame?  He didn’t wait for the lost sheep to send a text message asking for help.  He saw a problem, a lamb had gone missing, and he took immediate action.  Christ, in John 10:11 reminds us that He is, “. . . the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”  (NIV).  If we are going to imitate the Life of Christ, can we do any less?

There are lots of different ways to categorize people today.  One way is to divide them into the “service-to-self” and the “service-to-others” camps.  I have meet too many ministers, priest, and bishops who are in the ministry from a service-to-self motive.  They like the recognition, the influence, the fancy clothing and nice cars, the power and position, and the spotlight that their titles give them.  They usually have a hard time getting their hands dirty rescuing lost sheep.  They don’t go looking for lost sheep, they wait for the lost sheep to find them.  Ha.

On the other hand I feel surrounded in Our Monastery by individuals who have the service-to-others motive.  They, like Father Eduardo, find Christ by serving others.  I love to be surrounded by these good brothers and sisters.  Father Eduardo still inspires me, as do the members of Our Monastery today.

Serve God and Christ by serving others . . . Feed His Sheep.  Make your life, your church, your ministry, or wherever you serve, a field hospital for Christ.

May God hold you in the palm of His hands,

Bro. Dave

St. Brendan’s Celtic Christian Monastery is a non-denominational, online monastery without wall that accepts Christians, female and male, of all religious traditions into the order.  To learn more about Our Monastery please visit us.