 S/W alumnus Rabbi Mark Kinzer recently co-authored a book called “Besorah”. Martin Steinbereithner interviewed him and his co-author Rabbi Russell Resnik to find out why they published the book and what are some of their salient points. A very worthwhile interview to listen to. 

Words From the Servants

Besorah, A New Book by Rabbi Mark Kinzer and Rabbi Russell Resnik

 Luis Arce, our brother from Costa Rica, recently also graduated from Sacred Heart Seminary. We wanted to hear from him what he studied and what he wrote his thesis on. Enjoy! 

Interview with Luis Arce

 US elder Nico Angleys spoke about Psalm 104 at our recent Pentecost celebration. Listen to his reflections here… 

Psalm 104 – A Pentecost Psalm

 Our US brother Joseph Mathias recently graduated with a Master in Theology- so we thought we’d interview him and find out what he studied and what he learned. Enjoy! 

Interview with Joseph Mathias

For today’s installment of our 40 Days Meditation series, our brother Joe Fahd provides commentary on Is. 52:13-53:12. Take a listen or click here to download. Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you- his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind- so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. 53:1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-every one-to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.Is. 52:13-53:12 

Meditations for the 40 Days 2021: 1-Apr – Is. 52:13-53:12

For today’s installment of our 40 Days Meditation series, our brother Joe Fahd provides commentary on Is. 50:4-9. Take a listen or click here to download. The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward. I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.Is. 50:4-9 

Meditations for the 40 Days 2021: 31-Mar – Is. 50:4-9

For today’s installment of our 40 Days Meditation series, our brother Kenneth Carandang provides commentary on Is. 49:1-6. Take a listen or click here to download. Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God.” And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him- for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength- he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”Is. 49:1-6 

Meditations for the 40 Days 2021: 30-Mar – Is. 49:1-6

For today’s installment of our 40 Days Meditation series, our brother Kenneth Carandang provides commentary on Is. 42:1-9. Take a listen or click here to download. Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law. Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”Is. 42:1-9 

Meditations for the 40 Days 2021: 29-Mar – Is. 42:1-9

For today’s installment of our 40 Days Meditation series, our brother Kenneth Carandang provides commentary on Zech. 9:9-10. Take a listen or click here to download. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.Zech. 9:9-10 

Meditations for the 40 Days 2021: 28-Mar – Zech. 9:9-10

For today’s installment of our 40 Days Meditation series, our brother Kenneth Carandang provides commentary on Jn. 11:45-53. Take a listen or click here to download. Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.Jn. 11:45-53 

Meditations for the 40 Days 2021: 27-Mar – Jn. 11:45-53

For today’s installment of our 40 Days Meditation series, our brother Jean Pierre Fahd provides commentary on 1 Pet. 2:19-25. Take a listen or click here to download. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.1 Pet. 2:19-25 

Meditations for the 40 Days 2021: 26-Mar – 1 Pet. 2:19-25

For today’s installment of our 40 Days Meditation series, our brother Philip Morrison provides commentary on Jn. 10:10-18. Take a listen or click here to download. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”Jn. 10:10-18 

Meditations for the 40 Days 2021: 25-Mar – Jn. 10:10-18

For today’s installment of our 40 Days Meditation series, our brother Jean Pierre Fahd provides commentary on Jn. 8:39-47. Take a listen or click here to download. They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father-even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”Jn. 8:39-47 

Meditations for the 40 Days 2021: 24-Mar – Jn. 8:39-47

For today’s installment of our 40 Days Meditation series, our brother Philip Morrison provides commentary on Phil. 3:8-14. Take a listen or click here to download. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith- that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.Phil. 3:8-14 

Meditations for the 40 Days 2021: 23-Mar – Phil. 3:8-14

For today’s installment of our 40 Days Meditation series, our brother Jean Pierre Fahd provides commentary on Heb. 5:7-10. Take a listen or click here to download. In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.Heb. 5:7-10 

Meditations for the 40 Days 2021: 22-Mar – Heb. 5:7-10

The Servants of the Word, an ecumenical brotherhood of celibate men, share their spirituality through teaching, inspiration, and music. May it help you follow the Lord Jesus more closely.

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Words From the Servants

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