Daily Devotional

I have a lot of letters that my mom, and my dad, but mostly my mom wrote me in my life. She wrote while I was in college, when I moved away the first time to Kansas, then to Dallas and then to Chicago.

The end of the American Civil War arrived in 1865. The United States was finally at peace after four brutal years of conflict. The end of the war brought peace to the battlefield, but the terrible losses experienced during the war were felt in every community in the United States. By the war’s end, over 600,000 men had lost their lives in the line of duty.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfishness or conceit,

The Sermon. On the Mount is found in the Gospel of Matthew. It is a powerful teaching on how to live a life of faith. Specifically, much of what is taught by Jesus in this powerful collection of wisdom and spiritual advice is how our thoughts and our actions should reflect the nature of God.

Can you imagine what it must have been like to witness Jesus perform a miracle? How amazing would it have been to see Jesus defy the laws of nature? What was it like to see a prayer answered right before your eyes?

Love goes out of its way to help others. Love knows no boundaries when it comes to helping people who are in need. We show God’s love when we serve our neighbors. We may demonstrate God’s great love in large gestures or in small ways. When we go out of our way to help others, we share the love and hope of God.

I can’t imagine many more jobs as terrifying as washing windows on a high-rise building. I am not a fan of heights. Hanging off the side of a tall building with nothing but a cable keeping me from crashing to the ground sends a chill down my spine. Thankfully, there are brave people who are willing to do this work in our cities. I am grateful for them.

Judge Frank Caprio grew up in a working-class immigrant family in Providence, Rhode Island. The son of an Italian fruit peddler and milkman, he understood early on what struggle looked like. His father would take him and his brother on his early-morning milk truck runs, and it was at those house visits that Frank said he learned how to treat people with compassion and understanding.

And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be of anxious mind. For all the nations of the world seek these things;