03 May John 14:6 (from doubt to Faith!)
Welcome God today with this LIFE Group Devotion (website, Facebook).
“Jesus said to Thomas, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.'” John 14:6 (full readings)
Rob’s Reflections: I sympathize with Thomas. His name “Didymus” means “Twin” and he appears to be of two minds in the Gospel of John. He is the Apostle who famously says “Let us also go to die with Him” when Jesus decides to return to Judea after the death of Lazarus. As we heard last Sunday, he is also the Apostle who doubts Jesus’s Resurrection, “Unless I see… I will not believe.” Thomas’s faith had great strength when Jesus was visible and real to him. Perhaps like us, once Thomas felt Jesus was not present, his faith faltered, and he demanded proof. Our own need for unfaltering faith in the cause of Life is two-fold. We must have a logical, rational, scientific belief in the humanity, the personhood, of the unborn child. We must also have the spiritual belief, the faith, that the means to bring about a renewed respect for Life in our world today can only happen through the Way, the Truth and the Life of Jesus Christ. We can renew our faith in the certainty of success in our commitment to Life by looking to the life of Thomas. His erratic faith journey might help us grasp our own and other’s similar journeys. Thomas is willing to die with Jesus. Then he refuses to accept the truth of the Resurrection. Then he encounters the resurrected Jesus and exclaims “My Lord and my God.” And finally Thomas goes on to become a great evangelist for the Faith and is generally believed to be the Apostle who evangelized the greatest physical area of the world. He was able to do this because he had faith in “My Lord and my God” and recognized that Jesus truly is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Faith Challenge: Renew your faith today. Make an Easter Season commitment. Say to the Resurrected Jesus, “My Lord and my God.”
Counter-Culture News: LifeNews, Vatican, AFA, Priests for Life, Live Action
Our Prayers: Prayer to end abortion, Spiritual Adoption, Alpha Center, Peters family (JP). Add Prayers on our website. Pray with meals, bedtime, wake up, LIFE Runners, etc. Consider mid-week Family Rosary (17 min). Let’s pray now.
Feast Day: St. James the Lesser. Author of the Epistle of James and a martyr for the Faith.
Through Christ Our Lord,
Rob
Mark 9:24
* Pray/Fast: Prayer connects us with God’s will & His miracles, changing us & helping others. Fast from things that take your eyes off Jesus. Those who pray together stay together, and close to God!
* Save Unborn (& family): Abortion reality (images)…#1 death cause (23% pregnancies).Prov 24:11 & Jer 1:5. “A great poverty that a child must die that you might live as you wish.” Mother Teresa
* Evangelize: Make room for unbelievers & re-evangelization of self, by way of prayer (relationship) and following Christ’s example of love (service/sacrifice/mercy). Matt 28:19.