IN SILENT TEARS

PRAYER MOMENT Monday 19 January 2015 IN SILENT TEARS Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within. Reading: “During his life on earth he offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the one who had the power to save him out of death, and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard.” (Hebrews 5:1-10) Reflection. The letter to the Hebrews gives us a revealing glimpse of the interior suffering of Jesus, helping us to ponder further his agony in Gethsemene. As a human being he knew what he had to suffer but his tears were not for himself but for our world; a world so slow to accept the gift of God, “peace flowing like a river.” It is hidden from us because we cannot bend ourselves to “submit” – the word Muslims use to describe their faith – to that gift. The silent tears of Jesus are for all those who suffer in body and spirit and mind. Someone said, ‘God is in agony until the end of time.’ He suffers with the people of Syria and everywhere else where human actions have frustrated his plan. He calls us back as he did the people of ancient Israel. Prayer. Lord Jesus, as we ponder your “silent tears” we know they are for us and our world. Help us to share the sufferings of others and do what we can to comfort them. Amen. David Harold-Barry SJ