My thoughts (Pam Beutler):

When reading Hannah’s Song of Thanksgiving, it reminded me so much of Mary’s Magnificat that I could not help but include it. Here are two great women of faith who spoke of pride and humility in their prayers. Both women were steeped in the Hebrew scriptures. One gave birth to a great prophet of God; the other, to the son of God.

Hannah had no children — which was a source of great distress to her. Yet she remained steadfast in her worship of God and asked for what she deeply desired. She trusted in her Lord and God, despite her situation. She held God above all and had complete faith. She prayed with her whole heart and soul knowing that all things were possible.

When Mary learned from the Angel that she was to become the mother of God, the Messiah, she broke into prayer of exaltation and praise. Like Hannah, she acknowledged her lowly state and was overwhelmed by the condescension of God.

In both women’s prayers, they accepted God as their Savior, blessed God’s name, and knew that God would take care of them when they humbled themselves. Hannah and Mary found their strength in God’s love. And they both found this strength before the promises were fulfilled. Just the statement of God’s promise was sufficient.

And in time, God’s promises came to be. The Lord blessed Hannah with a son, the great prophet Samuel, who appointed the king David from whom the bloodline of the Savior began.

How often do we feel that God has forgotten us? We feel alone. Maybe, like Hannah, we don’t have what our heart truly desires. Maybe it’s a spouse, or children. Or it could be a relationship that’s broken, that leaves us scarred and empty. Maybe it’s a career that seems dead-end. Or it could be the day-to-day struggle, the thousand little disappointments and challenges. Whatever is holding us down, do we, like Hannah, fall on our knees in our desperation and thank God for all God has done? Find strength in God’s promises and know — God has a plan for all of us.

Like these great women of faith, God comforts us with the scriptures and the Spirit. For God’s plan isn’t always in the direction we thought we were going — but it will impact us in blessings far beyond what we had anticipated.

Thought for the day: “Just give it to God” may be a trite old saying — but it worked for Hannah.

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. For some suggestions, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

My thoughts (Pam Beutler):

Let the same mind be in you that was in Jesus Christ. Philippians 2:5

As a child in a parochial school, the good sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary taught us that when unpleasantries come our way, we should offer our small struggles to Our Lord. Not so that we’ll always find an easy way out, but so that we can offer ourselves to God for God’s purposes.

Over the years, I realized how I had incorporated this simple lesson into my life. I try to remind myself often that I am here for a bigger cause. I may not have all the luxuries that the 21st century offers, but I have joy and love surrounding me everyday. I try not to let material things weigh me down, and keep my focus on God’s purpose for me. I learned as a child to thank God every day for my life and things that God has brought into it, good or bad. I try to always be amazed at God’s everyday miracles — a sunrise or a sunset, the smell of a spring field or the fury of an Indiana thunderstorm. I often take a moment to clear my mind from the bustle of life, and have my conversation with God.

Many of us are bruised souls, making it through this world and waiting for the next life. We know there is more. I give each day to God, my breath, the pain in my joints, the laugh in my belly, each day to God. When life overwhelms me — and it often does — I stop and pray. I give my life to the One who made me. I ask God to help me look beyond my immediate circumstance. Spiritual transformation through learning is a continuing process.

Thought for the day: What would it mean for me to give this moment to God?

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to begin, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

My thoughts (Pam Beutler):

We live in fast times. Food service is never fast enough. Lines never move fast enough for our schedules — whether at the bank, grocery store, movie theatre, or a rush hour drive. Has your partner ever said to you, “We never spend enough time together”? We are exhausted from just “living”. Some of us talk about simpler times and fewer responsibilities.

God wants us to enjoy life, to stop and smell the roses, to notice the wind and sun and new life on an Indiana spring day. In our mind we can come up with more reasons not to relax, more tasks that must be done.

Just for today — take deliberate breaths. Feel yourself taking in a breath and exhaling, feel your heart beat.

Just for today — turn off the radio or television, pick up a pen and write a letter to God. Tell God what you’re feeling.

Just for today – count your blessings.

Worry less about what you don’t have, and appreciate what you do.

We make life harder than God intended it to be. God gave us nature to enjoy, not destroy. God gave us our senses to take in the beauty of all creation.

We fret way too much about our bodies. We overfeed them, or underfeed them. We put chemicals into them and food that isn’t nourishing — all for the pleasure of it. We rarely use this wonderful mind God gave us to contemplate how easy life could truly be. We can explore our dreams and make them into reality. We can develop our full potential, which would in turn, nourish our souls and please God.

God, our creator, made us perfect. Our souls are in God’s Image. We are on this earth to enjoy and experience life — not constantly fight it. Our priorities should be the growth of our soul to achieve the levels that Jesus showed us are possible on earth, developing and expanding our mind to that higher plane, and lastly, our body, our tool to assist the first two.

Starting today, show gratitude for your life and things that you have been given. Slow down — let God drive your life, give your body a rest. You might be surprised where it takes you.

Thought for the day: I’ll move to God’s rhythm.

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to start, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.

My thoughts (Pam Beutler):

When we were young, our parents set out rules for us to follow. For me, being raised in downtown Chicago in the 50’s, my parents feared that I could be abducted or get hit by a car — so I could not cross from one city block to another without permission ’til I was 10. Another rule was not to drink coffee because it would stunt my growth. There were curfews on weekends, family rosary on Saturday and household chores. Rules were important in my youth, not as important as I grew, yet transforming as I took my part in society.

You find many rules in the Old Testament. Often uneducated and nomadic, Israel needed rules to keep an organized security not just for their souls, but also for their health and the structure of a mobile society.

Jesus came at a time to change many of these rules and add a new law — one of love and acceptance of all, something unfamiliar to a caste system in early Israel. Rules of Moses’ time no longer were needed in Jesus’ vision of a new society — a society where all are servants, rich or poor, taking care of everyone, letting no one go hungry or unclothed. God was always the focus — that had not changed — but how humanity related to each other and God did. God became our Father, and an intimate relationship was formed for all people, not a chosen few. God’s temple was open to men, women and children.

God’s promise has always been Eden for us. Every one in unison again — loving one another and the earth, as God created it, living in harmony with all God’s creatures. It is so easy to oppress to gain control. Love knows no boundaries and doesn’t seek to control — or does it? Were my parent’s rules without love? It was that structure that got me to where I am today. This is much like God the Father in the Old Testament. God’s rules were to get us to Jesus, the New Covenant, and a journey back to Eden.

Thought for the day: Rules are not to be broken but transformed.

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to start, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.

My thoughts (Pam Beutler):

Let the same mind be in you that was in Jesus Christ. Philippians 2:5

As a young child in a parochial school, the good sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary taught us that when unpleasantries come our way, we should offer our small struggles to Our Lord. Not so that we’ll always find an easy way out, but offer ourselves to God for God’s purposes.

Over the years, I’ve realized how I had incorporated this simple lesson into my life. I try to remind myself often that I am here for a bigger cause. I may not have all the luxuries that the 21st century offers, but I have joy and love surrounding me everyday. I try not to let material things weigh me down, and keep my focus on God’s purpose for me.

I learned as a child to thank God every day for my life and things that God has brought into it, good or bad. I’m amazed by God’s everyday miracles — a sunrise or a sunset, the smell of a spring field or the fury of an Indiana thunderstorm. I often take a moment to clear my mind from the bustle of life, and have my conversation with God.

Many of us are bruised souls, making it through this world and waiting for the next life. I know there is more. I give each day to God: my breath, the pain in my joints, the laugh in my belly, each day in full. When life overwhelms me, and it often does, I stop and pray — I give my life to the One who made me. I ask God to help me look beyond what is taking place. Spiritual transformation through learning is a continuing process.

Thought for the day: As you go through the day, ask yourself, “How can I offer this moment, right now, to God?”

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to start, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

As you read, consider these questions: What might God be saying to me in this passage? What jumps out at me? At the end of the reading, try to summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two before reading on.

My thoughts on this passage (Pam Beutler):

I was introduced to the Shema at Vacation Bible School last year. Our church staged a replica of a town in Israel, and I led the tribe of Judah. One of the songs we learned and sang at the closing of each day as we gathered in a circle at dusk, was the shema. The words became part of me, echoing within me from that point on. I have since read these verses in all the Bible translations I could find.

“Hear oh Israel, the LORD our GOD, the LORD is one!”

It is a wake up for this century — not just centuries past. Nothing is more important than God — no ruler, no country.

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might!”

This kind of love overwhelms you, it captures your present state of being and elevates it higher — a God who carries you in the palm of His Hand, who shadows you as you move about your daily work — who loves you unconditionally and asks the same of you. This is a wonderful consuming love!

“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when your rise.”

What do we have to do to instill this today in our children? Each day they are cauterized against feeling through violent video games that dehumanize pain and suffering. We are captivated by unreality on television, playing the lottery hoping to bypass the day to day struggle, self medicating ourselves with drugs or alcohol to dull the pain of making ends meet or over reaching personal commitments. We make excuses why we aren’t involved in a ministry at church or even go to church regularly. I hear too often, “I don’t need a church to pray to God.”

I think God gets the short end of the stick too much of the time! I remember family prayers at dinner, a family rosary for peace on Saturdays and mass each Sunday. There was May Crowning, first communions, confirmations, special masses for the saints, blessing of our throats (against colds) and confessions — ritualistic Catholic practice to bring God into our life — each day. In school, we even made a place for our Guardian Angel to sit. An angel was a special emissary from God to protect us here on Earth ’til we were once again joined with Him. God instilled in us — morning, noon and night; heart, body and soul.

“You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gate.”

Many of us wear a cross or religious medal around our necks. We may have pictures in our homes depicting God’s walk with us on earth. We have family Bibles that are accessible on our coffee table, bed stand or book cases. Some of us carry prayer cards in our wallets with pictures of a saint, the Holy Family or Jesus. Some of us have holy water near our front door to bless ourselves as we enter and leave. Others have a mezuzah on their door frame that contains a scroll to touch as they enter and exit. Reminders, all, that we serve one LORD our God.

Read it again…slowly. How does the Shema guide you in your walk on earth with God?

Thought for the day: What habits can I establish to remind myself to remember God each day?

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to start, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.