Second Week - 8
Jesus begins to announce Good News



It will be helpful, perhaps, to call back to mind the considerations about “The Way Things Are.” In particular, it will be helpful to recall what we believe about God's call to us. God Himself has hopes for us in our life world, how we will develop as persons and what contribution we will make to the Reign of God now and in the accomplished Kingdom. For this reason, God's passionately creative love raises specific desires in our spirits. God raises in us deep desires for Himself and for what He is creating, and we find what we are to value in those desires and what we are to do, as well. Of course, our desiring and our calling are affected by our sin, and need always to be purified, and brought closer and closer to the desires and values of Jesus.

What I want now: I want to know Jesus of Nazareth, and to love Him, and to follow Him in His way.

PRAYER MATERIAL FOR THIS WEEK:
1. Luke 4:14-22
Jesus begins to preach. With the power of the Spirit in Him, Jesus goes back to Galilee. In Nazareth he reads from the scroll, "The spirit of the Lord has been given to me...” Then He tells them that the text is being fulfilled that very day.

2 & 3. Matthew 5:3-12:  The Beatitudes

4. The Three Phases of Humility

5. My Call - My Mission

6. My Own Personal Mission

7. The Choice of God

PRAYER FOR THIS WEEK:
Lord Jesus,
You humbled Yourself by sharing with friends
what You thought and felt and desired.
Lord, as You gave them the gift of knowing You
and feeling Your great love for them,
let me come to know You, too,
even so far away in another country and another time.
If only I could feel Your love for me,
I would love You then,
and in my whole heart would resonate
with what You think and feel and desire.
That is what I want,
if it please You, Lord.
Amen.