Love one another.
From today’s Scripture: “Thus says the LORD: If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; Then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land.”—Is 58:9
Imagine for a moment that each of us followed the instruction of the ancient oracle, Isaiah. No malicious speech, which means no gossip, hearsay, or seeing the splinter in our neighbor’s eye while I have a log in my own eye! One of my favorite quotes, “Rare is the person who can weigh the faults of others without putting his thumb on the scale.”
Imagine sharing our bread with the hungry—recognizing what others hunger for and then feeding them. It might indeed literally be bread and food or it could mean visiting a homebound neighbor who hungers for company or volunteering in a local school where children who must overcome many hurdles hunger for knowledge.
Imagine no malicious speech, no hunger, no oppression—what a different world it would be!
Let us pray: Lord, guide us always and let your light shine in the darkness of our lives and world. Feed us this day with the Bread of Life that we might be generous in sharing our bread and judicious in our speech.
Today’s author is Father Dan Dorsey, president of Glenmary Home Missioners.
Free delivery! Sign up to receive this by email in English or in Spanish