COMPLETELY HUMAN

PRAYER MOMENT Wednesday 14 January 2015 COMPLETELY HUMAN Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within. Reading: “It was essential that in this way he should be completely like his brothers so that he could a compassionate and trustworthy high priest.” (Hebrews 2:14-18) Reflection. Perhaps we sometimes ask ourselves, ‘how actually did Jesus save us?’ We have been taught he did it by his death and we saw the huge statue on the hill above Rio during the World Cup of Christ with arms raised to the world. But, as St Anselm asked, do we understand what we believe? The letter to the Hebrews searches for an answer by saying Jesus was completely human. We long to be loving, kind, patient, courageous, imaginative and so forth. He was all these to an extent we cannot grasp. His response to insults, ignominy, persecution and death took humanity to a height beyond our dreams. Ruth Burrows says, ‘he was so human he was divine.’ It is in union with him that we become truly human and that is what salvation means. Prayer. Lord, help us to become ‘completely human’by our daily growing into the life you call us to. May the world strive, even if unconsciously, to reach the peak of humanity you lived among us. Amen. David Harold-Barry SJ