How To Get To Heaven

6/12/2019

Step #1: Lectio / Read

Click the link below or open your Bible to the passage and read through the reading at least once, paying attention to what is happening in the text.

2 Corinthians 3:4-11

Step #2: Meditatio / Meditate

Use the following meditation to help you reflect more deeply on the Scripture (you may want to read the passage again).

So today is a tough day for me. As I read that first line of the second paragraph "Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone" I was literally about to leave to look at the tombstone we are about to buy for my sister's grave. See today is a tough day because today is my youngest sister's birthday, but it is also the day we are burying her. She passed away 5 months ago today and not a day goes by that I do not miss her like crazy, but today we finally get the chance to bury her ashes.

Now I know this is not my journal, so I am sharing this for a reason. While my family continues to mourn the physically death of my sister, many of us are spiritually dying and we pay no attention to it at all. Death is tough. It has literally been the hardest thing I have ever dealt with, but I have 100% confidence that she is still living, even more fully, in heaven. It is right and just to mourn the dead, but physical death is nothing compared to spiritual death.

St. Paul talks about how it is not just the letter of law that we must follow, but the Spirit of God. They are not contradictory, but it is not our own discipline or our own merit that gets us to heaven. It is grace and love. We have confidence in heaven because of God, not our own qualification. He died so I can go to heaven, so you can go to heaven, and so my 22 year old sister Heather could be with Him in heaven today for what would have been her 23rd birthday.

We need to cooperate with grace, we need to participate in God's love. Action is required on our part, but it is His grace and love that saves us, not ours. For those of you who have lost someone like I have, trust in God's mercy. Jesus died for sinners, not for the sinless (well except His mom of course). We need to run this race as best as we can, but know that God picks up the slack for us. Always. Try your hardest and trust in God's love and mercy. And please keep my family in your prayers today as well as anyone who has lost someone they are close to, especially at such a young age.

Step #3: Oratio / Pray

These questions are to be used to talk to God; have a conversation with the Lord about these questions and what is going on in your heart as you pray today.

Are you more concerned about your physical health/life than your spiritual health/life? How can you refocus more on your spiritual health?

Do you trust God's mercy as must as you trust your own discipline or actions? How can you learn to trust His mercy more and more?

How do you love well? How can you continue to love better?

Step #4: Contemplatio / Contemplate

In this step, you listen. Stop talking, let God speak to your heart. You may repeat one of these short phrases to focus your mind on the Lord.

"Jesus I trust in you."

"Help me to love like you."

"Come Holy Spirit."

Step #5: Actio / Act

In light of today's reading and your time spent in prayer with the Lord, what concrete action or actions will you take to let this encounter with the Lord bear fruit in you today?

Heather wasn't perfect, no one is, but she loved well. Share the love of God with someone today in a personal way.

Smartphone Lock Screen

The following image is here for you to save and use as a background or lock screen on your smartphone or device to help you carry today's Lectio Divina with you the rest of the day.

Today's prayer was prepared by Sean Norris, a theology teacher at JSerra Catholic High School in Orange County, CA.

If you have anything you'd like our team to pray for, please go to the page of our website called "Prayers" and let us know how we can pray for you today.

CARPE VERBUM