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Category: Lent, Servant Songs Tag: Bible reading, lent, obedience, prophecy, suffering

Surely He hath borne our griefsAnd carried our sorrows;Yet we esteemed Him stricken,Smitten by God, and afflicted.But He was wounded for our transgressions,He was bruised for our iniquities;The chastisement for our peace was upon Him.

Isaiah 53:4-5

Nothing (read not even the coronavirus pandemic) will separate me from the love of Christ.

The words of Paul. A hymn. An affirmation. A credo. Nothing at all, neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39.

Right now, under the barrage of overwhelming media coverage of the pandemic, you probably feel that nothing could separate you from COVID-19. Not government pronouncements, hand sanitizer and disinfectant, stockpiles of toilet paper rolls, not even prayer could free us from the inexorable march through the world of this pandemic. Mounting fear leads to panic. We do things that in life under normal circumstances we are sure we wouldn’t do.

Julian of Norwich offers another way of understanding Paul’s sentiment. Julian of Norwich, known for her Revelations of Divine Love, was an English anchorite and mystic. Her 16 “showings” are related to the passion of Jesus Christ. She lived in the fourteenth century.

Julian was no stranger to suffering, which she saw as a channel through which God could draw us closer to himself. The line most popularly quoted from her writings is this: “All shall be well, all shall be well, every manner of thing shall be well.” Julian could believe that all would be well, because divine providence brings good even from sin, even from evil, even from disaster. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ!

A fundamental aspect to a life of prayer in the wisdom of St. Teresa of Avila is humility. How are we to understand humility through her eyes? Truth. Today, I speak about the relationship between humility and truth for St. Teresa and how it can aid us in our lives of discipleship.

If you like my podcast, please make sure to subscribe to the podcast it really does help me. You can find more of my content at my website www.thefrankfriar.com and my YouTube at www.youtube.com/c/thefrankfriar

This morning I heard Jesus ask, "Do you love me?"  It made me reflect at the last few days. Have I been acting like I love Him?

We are entering the first full week of the Safer-at-Home Order issued by our county government. Some areas of the country and the world have faced stronger restrictions and for much longer, but that doesn’t make it easier. In this episode of By Your Life, we try to understand the suffering and death brought on by the coronavirus in the light of eternity.

Who is to blame for the lack of preparation for and response to the coronavirus? A lot of people are asking those questions, and everyone has an opinion. I don’t. I think that asking who is to blame is the wrong question. In this edition of By Your Life we encourage taking responsibility not placing blame.

These days, it is hard to escape the impact of the coronavirus. No one is immune to the physical, psychological, emotional, social, and economic effects of this pandemic. But is it all bad? In this week’s episode of By Your Life, we explore other possibilities.

Listening is the doorway to learning. It may be a fact, or more often, another person’s perspective of the facts. Regardless, there is always something that can be learned by listening. In this episode of By Your Life, we talk about the key to effective listening.

In recent years there has been a parade of shipwrecked careers and bankrupted companies led by people whose egos got ahead of their values. Not only that, the pursuit of power and wealth has cost many men their souls. In this week’s episode of By Your Life, we’ll talk about how our Lenten practices can help us battle the temptations of life.

Imagine our workplaces if everyone prayed for the person they wanted to criticize. Imagine our workplaces if everyone did what they needed to do with competence and with love. In this 100th episode of By Your Life, I offer you three practical things you can do that will perfect your business and your life.