Daily Meditation: Eucharist, the Sacrament of Communion

Monday September 30, 2013    Eucharist, the Sacrament of Communion   Baptism opens the door to the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is the sacrament through which Jesus enters into an intimate, permanent communion with us.  It is the sacrament of the table.  It is the sacrament of food and drink.  It is the sacrament of daily nurture.   While baptism is a once-in-a-lifetime event, the Eucharist can be a monthly, weekly, or even daily occurrence.  Jesus gave us the Eucharist as a constant memory of his life and death.  Not a memory that simply makes us think of him but a memory that makes us members of his body.   That is why Jesus on the evening before he died took bread saying, "This is my Body," and took the cup saying, "This is my Blood."  By eating the Body and drinking the Blood of Christ, we become one with him.     Comment on this Daily Meditation.   Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

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Daily Meditation: Baptism, a Call to Commitment

Sunday September 29, 2013    Baptism, a Call to Commitment   Baptism as a way to the freedom of the children of God and as a way to a life in community calls for a personal commitment.  There is nothing magical or automatic about this sacrament.  Having water poured over us while someone says, "I baptise you in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit," has  lasting significance when we are willing to claim and reclaim in all possible ways the spiritual truth of who we are as baptised people.   In this sense baptism is a call to parents of baptised children and to the baptised themselves to choose constantly for the light in the midst of a dark world and for life in the midst of a death-harbouring society.     Comment on this Daily Meditation.   Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

Forward this Daily Meditation to a friend! This email was sent to cbgamb@gmail.com, by email_lists@henrinouwen.org Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. Henri Nouwen Society | PO Box 220522 | St. Louis | MO | 63122 | USA Henri Nouwen Society | John M. Kelly Library, 3rd Fl. | 113 St. Joseph Street | Toronto | ON | M5S 1J4 | Canada

Daily Meditation: Baptism, the Way to Freedom

Friday September 27, 2013    Baptism, the Way to Freedom   When parents have their children baptised they indicate their desire to have their children grow up and live as children of God and brothers or sisters of Jesus, and be guided by the Holy Spirit.   Through birth a child is given to parents; through baptism a child is given to God.  At baptism the parents acknowledge that their parenthood is a participation in God's parenthood, that all fatherhood and motherhood comes from God.  Thus baptism frees the parents from a sense of owning their children.  Children belong to God and are given to the parents to love and care for in God's name.  It is the parents' vocation to welcome their children as honored guests in their home and bring them to the physical, emotional, and spiritual freedom that enables them to leave the home and become parents themselves.  Baptism reminds parents of this vocation and sets children on the path of freedom.     Comment on this Daily Meditation.   Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

Forward this Daily Meditation to a friend! This email was sent to cbgamb@gmail.com, by email_lists@henrinouwen.org Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. Henri Nouwen Society | PO Box 220522 | St. Louis | MO | 63122 | USA Henri Nouwen Society | John M. Kelly Library, 3rd Fl. | 113 St. Joseph Street | Toronto | ON | M5S 1J4 | Canada

Daily Meditation: Baptism, a Rite of Passage

Thursday September 26, 2013    Baptism, a Rite of Passage   Baptism is a rite of passage.  The Jewish people passed through the Red Sea to the Promised Land in the great exodus.  Jesus himself wanted to make this exodus by passing through suffering and death into the house of his heavenly Father.  This was his baptism.  He asked his disciples and now asks us:  "Can you ... be baptised with the baptism with which I shall be baptised?" (Mark 10:38).  When the apostle Paul, therefore, speaks about our baptism, he calls it a baptism into Jesus' death (Romans 6:4).   To be baptised means to make the passage with the people of Israel and with Jesus from slavery to freedom and from death to new life.  It is a commitment to a life in and through Jesus.     Comment on this Daily Meditation.   Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

Forward this Daily Meditation to a friend! This email was sent to cbgamb@gmail.com, by email_lists@henrinouwen.org Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. Henri Nouwen Society | PO Box 220522 | St. Louis | MO | 63122 | USA Henri Nouwen Society | John M. Kelly Library, 3rd Fl. | 113 St. Joseph Street | Toronto | ON | M5S 1J4 | Canada