Favorite Scriptures for communion with God.

Because you are God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,
clothe yourselves with heartfelt mercy, with kindness,
humility, meekness, and patience.
Bear with one another; forgive whatever grievances
you have against one another.
Forgive as the Lord has forgiven you.
Over all these virtues put on love,
which binds the rest together and makes them perfect.
Christ's peace must reign in your hearts,
since as members of the one body
you have been called to that peace.
Dedicate yourselves to thankfulness.
Let the word of Christ, rich as it is, dwell in you.
In wisdom made perfect, instruct and admonish one another.
Sing gratefully to God from your hearts in psalms, hymns,
and inspired songs.
Whatever you do, whether in speech or in action,
do it in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Give thanks to God the Father through him.

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1 Cor 11:23-26

Brothers and sisters: I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

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Ps 95: 1-2,6-7

Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us greet him with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.

Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the Lord who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds,
the flock he guides.

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Psalm 131

O Lord, my heart is not proud,
nor are my eyes haughty;
I busy not myself with great things,
nor with things too sublime for me.
Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted my soul
like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap,
so is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord,
both now and forever.

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Jn 17:l-lla

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began."

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Rom 8:35,37-39

Brothers and sisters: What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?

No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Mat 11:28-30

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

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Col 3:1-5,9-11

Since you have been raised up in company with Christ, set your heart on what pertains to higher realms where Christ is seated at God's right hand. Be intent on things above rather than on things of earth. After all, you have died! Your life is hidden now with Christ in God. When Christ our life appears, then you shall appear with him in glory. Put to death whatever in your nature is rooted in earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desires, and that lust which is idolatry.

Stop lying to one another. What you have done is put aside your old self with its past deeds and put on a new man, one who grows in knowledge as he is formed anew in the image of his Creator. There is no Greek or Jew here, circumcised or uncircumcised, foreigner, Scythian, slave, or freeman. Rather, Christ is everything in all of you.

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Lk 24:46-53

Jesus said to the Eleven: "Thus it is written that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. In his name, penance for the remission of sins is to be preached to the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of all this. See, I send down upon you the promise of my Father. Remain here in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."

He then led them out near Bethany, and with hands upraised, blessed them. As he blessed, he left them, and was taken up to heaven. They fell down to do him reverence, then returned to Jerusalem filled with joy. There they were to be found in the temple constantly, speaking the praises of God.

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Phil 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always!
I say it again. Rejoice!
Everyone should see how unselfish you are.
The Lord himself is near.
Dismiss all anxiety from your minds.
Present your needs to God in every form of prayer
and in petitions full of gratitude.
Then God's own peace,
which is beyond all understanding,
will stand guard over your hearts and minds,
in Christ Jesus.

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Eph 1:17-23

May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, grant you a spirit of wisdom and insight to know him clearly. May he enlighten your innermost vision that you may know the great hope to which he has called you, the wealth of his glorious heritage to be distributed among the members of the church, and the immeasurable scope of his power in us who believe.

It is like the strength he showed in raising Christ from the dead and seating him at his right hand in heaven, high above every principality, power, virtue and domination, and every name that can be given in this age or the age to come.

He has put all things under Christ's feet and has made him, thus exalted, head of the church, which is his body: the fullness of him who fills the universe in all its parts.

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Acts 7:55-60

Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked to the sky above and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God's right hand. "Look!" he exclaimed, "I see an opening in the sky, and the Son of Man standing at God's right hand." The onlookers were shouting aloud, holding their hands over their ears as they did so. Then they rushed at him as one man, dragged him out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses meanwhile were piling their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.

As Stephen was being stoned he could be heard praying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." He fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And with that he died.

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Phil 3:8-14

I have come to rate all as loss in the light of the surpassing knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ. For his sake I have forfeited everything; I have accounted all else rubbish so that Christ may be my wealth and I may be in him, not having any justice of my own based on observance of the law. The justice I possess is that which comes through faith in Christ. It has its origin in God and is based on faith. I wish to know Christ and the power flowing from his resurrection; likewise to know how to share in his sufferings by being formed into the pattern of his death. Thus do I hope that I may arrive at resurrection from the dead.

It is not that I have reached it yet, or have already finished my course; but I am racing to grasp the prize if possible, since I have been grasped by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not think of myself as having reached the finish line. I give no thought to what lies behind but push on to what is ahead. My entire attention is on the finish line as I run toward the prize to which God calls me - life on high in Christ Jesus.

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Heb 11:1-2,8-16

Faith is confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see. Because of faith the men of old were approved by God. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called, and went forth to the place he was to receive as a heritage; he went forth, moreover, not knowing where he was going. By faith he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise; for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose designer and maker is God. By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age--and Sarah herself was sterile--for he thought that the one who had made the promise was worthy of trust.

As a result of this faith, there came forth from one man, who was himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands of the seashore. All of these died in faith. They did not obtain what had been promised but saw and saluted it from afar. By acknowledging themselves to be strangers and foreigners on the earth, they showed that they were seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking back to the place from which they had come, they would have had the opportunity of returning there. But they were searching for a better, a heavenly home. Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

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Is 42:1-4,6-7

Here is my servant whom I uphold,
   my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
Upon whom I have put my spirit;
   he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
Not crying out, not shouting,
   not making his voice heard in the street.
A bruised reed he shall not break,
   and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
Until he establishes justice on the earth;
   the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

I, the Lord, have called you for the victory of justice,
   I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
   as a covenant of the people,
   a light for the nations,
To open the eyes of the blind,
   to bring out prisoners from confinement,
   and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

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Jn 14:1-12

Jesus said to his disciples: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way."

Thomas said to him, "Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?"
Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

Philip said to him, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us."
Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father."

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Jn 14:15-24

Jesus then said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.
"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.
"Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him."

Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, "Master, (then) what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?"
Jesus answered and said to him, "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.
"Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me."

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Jn 12:20-33

Among those who had come up to worship at the feast of Passover were some Greeks. They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and put this request to him: "Sir, we should like to see Jesus." Philip went to tell Andrew; Philip and Andrew in turn came to inform Jesus. Jesus answered them:
   "The hour has come
   for the Son of Man to be glorified.
   I solemnly assure you,
   unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies,
   it remains just a grain of wheat.
   But if it dies,
   it produces much fruit.
   The man who loves his life
   loses it,
   while the man who hates his life in this world
   preserves it to life eternal.
   If anyone would serve me,
   let him follow me;
   where I am,
   there will my servant be.
   Anyone who serves me,
   the Father will honor.
   My soul is troubled now,
   yet what should I say -
   Father, save me from this hour?
   But it was for this that I came to this hour.
   Father, glorify your name!"
Then a voice came from the sky:
   "I have glorified it,
   and will glorify it again."
When the crowd of bystanders heard the voice, they said it was thunder.
Others maintained, "An angel was speaking to him." Jesus answered,
"That voice did not come for my sake, but for yours.
   "Now has judgment come upon this world,
   now will this world's prince be driven out,
   and I - once I am lifted up from earth -
   will draw all men to myself."
This statement of his indicated the sort of death he was going to die.

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Mk 14:32-36

They went to a place called Gethsemane; and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. And said to them, "I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake." And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, "Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want."

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1 Jn 4:11-16

Beloved,
   if God has loved us so,
   we must have the same love for one another.
No one has ever seen God.
Yet if we love one another
   God dwells in us,
   and his love is brought to perfection in us.
The way we know we remain in him
   and he in us
   is that he has given us of his Spirit.
We have seen for ourselves, and can testify,
   that the Father has sent the Son as savior of the world.
When anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,
   God dwells in him
   and he in God.
We have come to know and to believe
   in the love God has for us.
God is love,
   and he who abides in love
   abides in God,
   and God in him.

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Jn 17:11-19

Jesus looked up to heaven and prayed:
   "O Father most holy,
   protect them with your name which you have given me,
   (that they may be one, even as we are one.)
   As long as I was with them,
   I guarded them with your name which you gave me.
   I kept careful watch,
   and not one of them was lost,
   none but him who was destined to be lost -
   in fulfillment of Scripture.
   Now, however, I come to you;
   I say all this while I am still in the world
   that they may share my joy completely.
   I gave them your word,
   and the world has hated them for it;
   they do not belong to the world,
   any more than I belong to the world.
   I do not ask you to take them out of the world,
   but to guard them from the evil one.
   They are not of the world,
   any more than I am of the world.
   Consecrate them by means of truth -
   'Your word is truth.'
   As you have sent me into the world,
   so I have sent them into the world;
   I consecrate myself for their sakes now,
   that they may be consecrated in truth."

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1 Jn 3:1-2

See what love the Father has bestowed on us
in letting us be called children of God!
Yet that is what we are.
The reason the world does not recognize us
is that it never recognized the Son.
Dearly beloved,
we are God's children now;
what we shall later be has not yet come to light.
We know that when it comes to light
we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.

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Readings that help me come into communion with God.

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