Uri Brito

On April 13, 2019 By Uri Brito In Scribblings 1

Lenten Journey, Day 34, Kindness

“But the fruit of the Spirit is kindness…”

It’s possible that you live in fear wondering if Jesus is at the right hand of the Father scheming to make your life miserable. Or it is even possible that somehow you have bought into the thinking that Jesus is ready to crush you like a bug; like he is ready to take away your baptismal rights and give you a bag of filthy rags to carry around for the rest of our life. You may think Jesus is there at the right hand of the father saying: “Yes, I cannot wait to make your life as miserable as possible because you sinned against me or you were seduced by false gods or because of your low self-esteem.” But this is not the case.

Like Pharaoh’s daughter showed kindness to Moses, like Rahab to the spies, like David to Mephibosheth, like Joab to Absalom, like Elisha who restored to life the woman’s son, like Joseph to Mary, the centurion to his servant, John to Mary, Paul to Onesimus, God’s kindness flows to you day after day after day after day. In God’s economy, in Jesus’ kingship, no child of God is damaged goods. None. His hesed, his steadfast love, his kindness endures forever.

On April 12, 2019 By Uri Brito In Scribblings, Wisdom 3

Lenten Journey, Day 33; Patience

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience…”

Impatience stems from thinking that everything and everyone needs to follow a great script written by you and when people don’t follow the script as you wrote, then you are justified to show a director’s fury.

But you see, you don’t write the script for your children and friends. God is the director of our lives. His script for our lives is from everlasting. And when we rush to anger with our fellow actors and actresses, we are acting as if we are self-creators of our own stories. We are supplanting God’s function in our stories as the great writer. On the other hand, patience treats others with the dignity of fellow travelers in this great cosmic narrative.

On April 11, 2019 By Uri Brito In Scribblings 1

Lenten Journey, Day 32, Managing Conflict

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…”

When Jesus talks about managing something, he is referring to the proper responsibilities that come with an investment. A steward does not manage things for his own pleasure but for the pleasure of his master. I think this is the best way to think of conflict. A conflict is not God’s curse on you, it’s in the words of one writer, “a management opportunity.” It is quite fascinating how these virtues build on one another. Without going to too much detail, we can say that love and joy prepare us to manage conflict well. Someone who is selfish and prideful will look at conflict as a way of getting what they want. They will not steward conflict with godliness. In short, stewarding conflict will require love and joy. So, in the middle of conflict, we need to realize that these principles need to be at work. And this works well with our children: we remind them and ourselves that the goal of conflict is wholeness, peace.

On April 10, 2019 By Uri Brito In Counseling/Piety, Scribblings 1

Lenten Journey, Day 31; When heaven breaks through

“But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy. (Ps. 5:11)

Every time heaven breaks through our daily life, it is a reason to rejoice. It breaks through with tremendous regularity in big events, like the birth of a child, the provision of our financial needs, recovering through severe pain, or whatever it may be, we see heaven given to us regularly. But heaven also breaks through in many little things, like the response of a child to the wisdom of God, the beauty of a sunny day, the note or word of encouragement. Are we responding to that joy when heaven breaks through? It is common for people to talk to one another to report the sad details of other people’s lives; it is not so common to rejoice in the details of other people’s lives. We need more of that. We need to be genuinely joyful over the joy of others. Instead of lamenting the joy of others, let us rejoice in their well-being. Our lack of joy may stem from our lack of joy for other people’s joy.

On April 9, 2019 By Uri Brito In Art, Theology Like

Youtube Conversation with Dustin Messer on his new book “Secular Sacraments”

On April 9, 2019 By Uri Brito In Counseling/Piety 1

Lenten Journey, Day 30, Love as Ethics

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love…” Gal. 5:22

Love is not a possession of some kind; it is not an abstract idea, it is not only the motivating factor for behavior, rather love is behavior. In simple terms, love is action, or we may say: “love is ethics.” It is concrete and visible; it is covenantal and relational. In fact, it is so concrete for Paul that he says I Corinthians 2 that “(he) decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

Love, for St. Paul, is most clearly demonstrated in the concrete suffering of Christ for us. He gave himself for us, while we were yet sinners. To love is to act; anything short of action is not love at all. A husband can say he loves his wife 100 times a day, but if he refuses to connect his words to his actions, there is no fruit to his love. Our mission is to pursue the fruit of love in word and deed.

On April 8, 2019 By Uri Brito In Scribblings 1

Lenten Journey, Day 29, Spirit and Spiritual

Galatians 5:22a: “But the fruit of the Spirit is…”

If the Bible speaks of the “spiritual,” our tendency is to think of something not visible or ghostly or otherworldly. But the Scriptures train us to see the word “spiritual” as the application of something formed in you by the Holy Spirit. The life that flows in the tree of human virtue is the Holy Spirit, motivating and giving the power to live up to the virtues listed.

Paul sees the body holistically, as a single unit; not divided into body and soul. When you think of “body” in the Bible think of your entire humanity, not just your flesh; your emotions, passions, desires, and decisions. The body is the battleground of good and evil. And the great battles of our bodies indwelt by the Holy Spirit are the nine great virtues of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

On April 6, 2019 By Uri Brito In Counseling/Piety, Scribblings 1

Lenten Journey, Day 28; Sacrifice and Love

I John 3:16: This is how we know love: Jesus laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

Laying down our lives is a distinctly Christian commitment. Only the Christian can truly say they follow a Lord who died for them. The sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross is the model of Christian existence. The Christian faith is self-sacrificial. The saint looks at his brother and says, “You are a follower of the crucified Lord and my duty is to lay down my life for you.”

Now, at this point, it is tempting to list ten examples of sacrifice, but one would naturally feel like once he completes the list his sacrificial disposition ends. Laying down our lives for one another is not always calculated, it is generally an act of service at a time when we least expect.

True love sees an opportunity to lay down our lives and seizes it with wonder at the Lord of glory who gave his body on a tree. In communion with one another sacrifice becomes the language of love. As C.S. Lewis describes: “When God becomes a Man and lives as a creature among His own creatures in Palestine, then indeed His life is one of supreme self-sacrifice and leads to Calvary.”

On April 5, 2019 By Uri Brito In Scribblings 1

Lenten Journey, Day 27, Ruth’s Symbols

Ruth 1:1: So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab.

The Book of Ruth is saturated with symbols. Bethlehem is a picture of the Church and Moab is a picture of the world. When Elimelech leaves Bethlehem–the only refuge for sinners–and goes to Moab, he is leaving the Lord God and the covenant promises. Bethlehem is the land where God’s name dwells. No matter how difficult it may be, there is no refuge apart from God’s presence. In the Old Covenant, God chose to dwell in particular places. To leave such places, no matter how dire the problems is to leave God himself. Remember in this Lenten Season that to leave God’s people is to leave God himself.

On April 4, 2019 By Uri Brito In Scribblings 1

Lenten Journey, Day 26

Revelation 5:12: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

The question of what happens when Christians die has been discussed for centuries. Some Christian traditions believe that those souls at death exist in a dormant stage until the resurrection from the dead at the end of history. But the larger biblical story indicates that when our mortal bodies die, our souls immediately enter into the presence of Jesus and the great cloud of witnesses. There, in that heavenly state, the saints of all ages praise the Lamb of God who died and rose again, and eagerly await the day when Jesus will destroy all his enemies and make all things new.

Our Lenten hope is that the Cross of Jesus opened paradise and the second our earthly journey is over, our souls will rest in great hope and joy in the presence of God until Jesus returns.