WORK FOR FOOD THAT ENDURES

PRAYER PAUSE        

Monday, 1 May 2017, St Joseph the Carpenter

WORK FOR FOOD THAT ENDURES

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Do not work for food that cannot last, but work for food that endures to eternal life, the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you.” (John 6:22-29).  

Reflection. The feast of St Joseph the Worker was introduced in 1955 to give a religious dimension to the emphasis on the dignity of workers promoted from the end of the 19^th century onwards. Not only is work a co-operation in the creation of God, bringing to perfection his plan for his people but it is an intimate act of union with God. The family in Nazareth, where Joseph works for the Lord of history in a direct daily way is an astonishing model for what we do each day. To think of work as simply a means of employment so as to care for one’s family is to stop at its most basic meaning. It is far more. It is our way of becoming truly human by sinking ourselves each day in acts that are truly creative in union with the Creator of all.   

Prayer. Lord, help us all to find meaningful work and so to work as to bring about your purpose for our world.  Amen.

THEY CHANGED THEIR MINDS

THEY CHANGED THEIR MINDS

How much we would love to see a change of mind in the hearts of the protagonists in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere! The suffering of the people goes on; those who are able to stop it stick to their way of thinking. Indeed, it is obvious that many problems, domestic and international, could be solved if people were willing to change. Séamus O’Connell, writing in the Furrow recently, tells us that our salvation story started with a change of mind. Joseph was a good man and when he found his wife, Mary, was with child he decided to divorce her without fuss. But he changed his mind.

O’Connell goes on to cite other changes of mind, like the son who at first refused to do what his father wanted but then changed his mind (Matt 21:28-32). Matthew himself was doing nicely as a tax-collector until he changed his mind when Jesus spoke to him. Luke gives us a dramatic mind-changing story of two men despairing of the dead Messiah and going off home to Emmaus. “Their eyes were opened” and they did an about turn and hurried back to Jerusalem (24:31).

“I’ve changed my mind” is easily said but it rarely comes without an interior struggle. Matthew describes it as a dream where Joseph’s dilemmas is resolved. Matthew teaches us about interiority; when you give alms or fast or pray – do it in secret and “your Father, who know what you do in secret, will reward you.”

Somehow we have the idea that to change your mind is a sign of weakness – particularly in public men. But that makes no sense.  Mahatma Ghandi was once chided by one of his followers for saying one thing one day and something else the next. He was not the slightest put out: “I changed my mind,” he said. The opening words of Jesus in Mark – his proclamation of his agenda – were; “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Change your way of thinking and believe the good news!” (1:15).

To change our minds – or to be open to doing so – requires us to go to the heart of the matter. What really is the issue? What do I want from it? Is it really necessary to fight over this thing? What values am I living out of? These are not questions people, deep in conflict, take time to ask themselves. Yet, if we do not go deeper we will never find the point at which my opponent and I converge. This deepening is going on between churches today and, in some places, between people in violent conflict with each other. Marriage “encounter” and other counselling methods aim to reach this point. There are still people, for instance, in denial about climate change as there are about many other burning issues. The Easter journey to Emmaus stands as a symbol of what we are called to.    

30 April 2017                       Easter Sunday 3 A

Acts 2:14, 22-33 1 Peter 1:17-21                  Luke 24:13-35

SUBMISSION TO THE FAITH

PRAYER PAUSE        

Saturday, 29 April 2017, Catherine of Sienna

SUBMISSION TO THE FAITH

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “And a large group of priest made their submission to the faith.”  (Acts 6 1-7).  

Reflection. To “submit” sounds like weakness, like being giving in. But athletes and footballers “submit” to rigorous training regimes to hone their skills for the contest. Submission, in fact, frees us to act in a new way. The word ‘Islam’ means submission. And so too here, in the early Church, some Jewish priests “submit” to the faith and gain the freedom the “way” of Jesus gives. We can grasp that submission takes courage and humility; often it involves a confession that my earlier way was wrong. Matthew “submitted” when he left the counting of his gains after Jesus called him. And so it is, in one way or another, with each of us.

Prayer. Lord, give us the courage to submit to your gentle Spirit.  Amen.

WHERE CAN WE BUY BREAD?

PRAYER PAUSE        

Friday, 28 April 2017

WHERE CAN WE BUY BREAD?

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?’”  (John 6 1-15).  

Reflection. Jesus turns to Philip for help! Bread is a symbol of all our needs for food, shelter, work, security and so forth. Bread also stands for human growth in its broadest sense; joy and the courage to face trials and the wisdom to understand what is happening in my life every hour of the day. Thirdly, it stands for the Eucharist, the way we offer our thanks to the Father in union with Jesus who offers his life and with whom we enter into Communion. We become one with him in all that we face. All this is contained in the prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Prayer. Lord, give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive others.  Amen.

GOD LOVES THE WORLD SO MUCH

PRAYER PAUSE        

Wednesday, 26 April 2017, St Mark

GOD LOVES THE WORLD SO MUCH

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Yes, God loves the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.”  (John 3 16-21).  

Reflection. These words are the mature reflection of the early tradition associated with John. They were written some sixty years after the Ascension and they proclaim  the consolation of the Easter event.. The “saving” from sin and its consequences is the work we are engaged in each day. And we do it in the context of the power of Jesus who has come to live with us and struggle with us in the midst of sometimes extremely difficult issues.

Prayer. Lord, help us to trust that you are with us in the struggles we face.  Amen.

GO OUT

PRAYER PAUSE        

Tuesday, 25 April 2017, St Mark

GO OUT

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Go out to the whole world; proclaim the good news to all creation.”  (Mark 16:15-20).  

Reflection. The command of Jesus refers to the mission of the early Church to go out from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. But it also refers to the “going out” from our focus on ourselves. It gathers up all the gospel sayings about ‘denying oneself’ and ‘losing one’s life.’ Our media and ‘culture’ prompts us to look to our security and our politicians play on this. But to respond to Jesus we have in some way to go beyond our fears and reach out to others. This really stretches us. Jesus promises that this “going out” will mean that we will find our life. It is in giving that we receive.

Prayer. Lord, help us to go out of ourselves to others so that we may break the bonds of loneliness and alienation so many feel.  Amen.

NICODEMUS CAME BY NIGHT

PRAYER PAUSE        

Monday, 24 April 2017

NICODEMUS CAME BY NIGHT

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “There was one of the Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leading Jew, who came to Jesus by night.”  (John 3:1-8).  

Reflection. We have just met Thomas and then there was Cleophas and now Nicodemus – all Jews groping to understand the mystery of God among us. Each had their difficulties and each is gently led by Jesus to belief. With Nicodemus it took time. We first meet him here coming by night, then some chapters later he makes a courageous plea for Jesus to be heard before he is condemned. Finally he has the courage to ask for the body of Jesus to give it a reverent burial. Augustine extolled the virtue of curiosity and Nicodemus should be the patron of the curious. It is a virtue that leads to human progress in all fields, including in things of the spirit.

Prayer. Lord, teach us to be curious and voice our questions so that we can seek you help us to seek you,  and find you.  Amen.

SILENCE

SILENCE

Silence is a film about two Portuguese Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth century who go to Japan to find out about the priest, Fr Ferreira, who had been in charge of the mission there but who was said to have abandoned the Christian faith under torture. Their guide is the only Japanese they can find outside Japan who himself, we discover, ran away after he had denied his faith under the threat of torture while the rest of his family were killed. After a secret crossing of the China Sea they meet some Christians who welcome them with joy but the guide soon betrays one of them, Fr Rodrigues.

Then his trial begins. After decades of accepting the missionaries the authorities had decided that the Christian faith is a foreign influence that cannot grow in “our Japanese swamp.” It had to be rooted out. But they found that torture and death didn’t work. It only emboldened the Christians. So they devised a way to get the priests to abandon the faith and so demoralise the faithful. Rodrigues is told the Christians will be horribly killed if he does not deny his faith by trampling on an image of Christ. And there are scenes where some are killed to emphasise the threat. Totally unnerved he goes through an agony of questions; how can my belief be justified if it leads to the cruel death of others? What does it mean to be loyal to the faith? Has it to be so absolute? Can there not be exceptions in certain circumstances? And to all his questions, God is silent.   

Up to this Rodrigues had been steady in his resolve that nothing would divert him from facing martyrdom, if it should come. But when he is faced with this dilemma, he wavers and he denies his faith. He saves the lives of his fellow Christians but questions linger in the air. He and Ferreira spend their last days working for the Japanese, identifying anything that might be a Christian symbol smuggled into the country.

It is tough viewing and puts in sharp relief our easy assumption that we know what faith is. Few of us are so tested. Few of us endure the ‘silence of God’ as those two far off missionaries did. Thomas had his doubts relieved at the time but perhaps later he too endured the silence, as we now know Mother Teresa did. Faith stretches the human mind and heart as nothing else does. As we rejoice during Easter time we do so in the knowledge that this silence may come to us too. 

23 April 2017              Easter Sunday 2 A

Acts 2:42-47                1 Peter 1:3-9               John 20:19-31

  

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?

PRAYER PAUSE        

Easter Saturday, 22 April 2017

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “What are we going to do with these men?” the rulers and elders asked, “It is obvious a miracle has been worked … But to stop the whole thing…”  (Acts 4:13-21).  

Reflection. The accounts we have of the early church agree on the lack of belief of the disciples and of the rulers and elders. The former gradually realise with great joy that it really is true – he has risen – but the latter, with a few exceptions like Nicodemus and Gamaliel, persist in the attitude we have already seen in the gospels. These two, the faltering belief of the disciples and the lack of belief of the establishment, in one way or another, endure to our time. There are many on the journey of faith and there are many who give no thought to it. Those of us who write or read words such I am writing here, are seekers. Let us encourage and pray for one another that we deepen our search each day.  

Prayer. Lord, help us to seek you, to know you and love you; and may we become leaven in your creation.  Amen.

WHAT I HAVE

PRAYER PAUSE                   (out of internet range 20-21 Apr)

Easter Wednesday, 19 April 2017

WHAT I HAVE

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “I have neither silver nor gold, but I will give you what I have; in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!”  (Acts 3:1-10).  

Reflection. In this Easter week we share in the enormous confidence of Peter. We know the depths of denial he comes from but here we see a man transformed, a man so confident that he can preach as Jesus preached and give signs as Jesus did. And the Easter message for all of us is to live that joy and to share what we have. People can draw life from us in so far as we are united intimately with the source of life as Peter was.

Prayer. Lord, we ask to grow ever closer in our knowledge, love and following of you during these Easter days.  Amen.

THEY WERE CONVINCED

PRAYER PAUSE

Easter Tuesday, 18 April 2017

THEY WERE CONVINCED

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “They were convinced by Peter’s arguments, and they accepted wha he said and were baptised.”  (Acts 2:36-41).  

Reflection. As we ponder the message, “He has risen”, we turn our gaze to Peter. This is the scared man whose courage faltered. Now he is standing up and “speaking for a long time, using many arguments.” Were these the same people who had shouted, “Crucify him!” a little while earlier? A huge change has come about in Peter, in the people and to those “far away” in time and geography, that is, us. Our lives take off in a new direction because of the hope and joy generated by this rising which completes the creation story.  The fulfilment of human history is now the attainable agenda and we are part of it; we are to make it happen.

Prayer. Lord, we rejoice in the transformation of Peter and of all who believe: help us to live this new life each day.  Amen.

AND THERE, COMING TO THEM, WAS JESUS

PRAYER PAUSE

Easter Monday, 17 April 2017

AND THERE, COMING TO THEM, WAS JESUS

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples. And there, coming to meet them, was Jesus.”  (Matthew  28:8-15).  

Reflection. Jesus did not say, “It is finished” at the resurrection but on the cross. He achieved everything he had set out to do with his death. But, as our first reading from the Acts (2:22-32) says, “it was impossible for death to hold him in its power.” The resurrection is the underlining of victory. We are on the winning side. It is impossible for us to fail – unless, of course, we no longer walk with Jesus. But if we welcome the one who “comes to meet us” every day we cannot fail, even if appearances say otherwise. This is our joy in these days of Easter. God is completing the work he began at creation, which we read about in the Easter vigil. There is no way he will fail. “All will be well.”

Prayer. Lord, fill us with hope and joy in you at this Easter time that we may joyfully fulfil all that we still have to do.  Amen.

A DANCE OF BUTTERLIES

A DANCE OF BUTTERLIES

The other day I took a walk near our place across the dam and towards the corn field. The good rains meant the path was overgrown with fresh grass. Suddenly a host of small yellow butterflies appeared from nowhere circling and diving rejoicing in each other’s company but never crashing into one another. I stopped and watched for a while in awe. Nature has its way of rejoicing.

It is Good Friday. We see the man of sorrows move unsteadily along the way to Golgotha. We try to share his sorrow but we also hear his words, “weep not for me!” We are to weep for ourselves for it is our great sorrow that we cannot be what we are made to be. Made in the image of God we experience ourselves as far from it. Our sorrow is often for our disappointments and hurts. We look only at how I have been misunderstood, bypassed, insulted and wounded.

On this day our sorrow is to go beyond such hurts, real though they may be. My sorrow is to rest, not on me but on the one who paid the price of my failure to live up to the divine calling. Created in the divine image I am aware how little I reflect that image. The fourteenth century author of The Cloud wrote,

“Everyone has plenty of cause for sorrow but they alone understand the deep universal reason for sorrow who experience that they are. Every other motive pales beside this one. They alone feel authentic sorrow who realise not only what they are but that they are. Anyone who has not felt this should really weep, for they have never experienced real sorrow.”

Perhaps we wonder why the saints are so aware of their wretchedness while the rests of us think we are OK? Well, it may be that the closer we approach the light the more aware we are of the dross we carry.

Easter is that moment in our lives when we see that there is a horizon beyond us and we are on the way there. Easter draws us and gladdens our heart. We know that our frail dance – the best we can do now – will be transformed beyond our imaginings. Our limitations will fall away as the chains fall from a freed convict. We receive intimations of that day in the kindness of a friend and the smile of a stranger. And we see it in the exuberance of small yellow butterflies, dancing in the breeze.  

16 April 2017      Easter

THEY RESTED

PRAYER PAUSE

Holy Saturday, 15 April 2017

THEY RESTED

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: ““They rested on the Sabbath Day.” (Luke 23:56).  

Reflection. The Sabbath, such a point of friction between the Jews and Jesus, was originally the day “God rested” after he had created the world. For Jesus’ friends it was a day of desolation, fear and confusion. They locked their doors. For us it is a day trustful anticipation. Much of our life is waiting – actually physically in doctors’ “waiting” rooms or, more often, the waiting for life’s issues to mature – like the farmer who waits for his crop to ripen. We are anxious to see problems resolved. But sometimes we have to wait to allow the pieces to fall into place. You cannot push the river. It has its own pace.

Prayer. Lord, teach us to trust that you are at work. We don’t have to do everything. We do what we can then we wait. Teach us this.  Amen.

A MAN OF SORROWS

PRAYER PAUSE

Good Friday, 14 April 2017

A MAN OF SORROWS

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “A man of sorrows and familiar with suffering, a man to make people screen their faces; he was despised and we took no account of him. And yet ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried.” (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)

Reflection. The fourteenth century author of The Cloud wrote, “Everyone has plenty of cause for sorrow but they alone understand the deep universal reason for sorrow who experience that they are. Every other motive pales beside this one. They alone feel authentic sorrow who realise not only what they are but that they are. Anyone who has not felt this should really weep, for they have never experienced real sorrow.” Can we try to understand this? Many things make us sorrowful but often they have much to do with our failures and hurts. And all of this is rather self-centred. The writer here is going beyond our egocentric view to tell us that just being human is a great sorrow: it limits us and we cannot be fully what God created us to be. We ache to become what, deep down, we want to be; a person who reflects the divine life, the image of God we are made in. Only death will release us from our limitations.

Prayer. Lord, as we try to share your sorrow and suffering today, help us to reach out for the divine life you long to share with us; may our words and actions reflect this longing.  Amen.

THIS IS MY BODY FOR YOU

PRAYER PAUSE

Holy Thursday 13 April 2017

THIS IS MY BODY FOR YOU

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “The Lord Jesus took some bread, and thanked God for it and broke it, and he said, ”This is my body which is for you; do this as a memorial of me.” (1 Co 11:23-26)

Reflection. An agenda is “what is to be done.” This simple action of Jesus, taking some bread and then some wine, and saying , “This is for you,” announces the great work he is about to do and which will be carried on to the end of time. He gives himself “for me”, for every individual person and for every human project. This is the great energy at the heart of creation ever in movement in each one of us. The sun, with its light and heat, gives physical energy to all things. The Son, in the power of the Spirit, dwells and works in each of us and in our common projects. He is the light of the world and the energy of all things. This night is the “official opening” of this work, though it had begun long before.

Prayer. Father, in every Eucharist we express our thanks for the gift of your Son. Help us to receive the onrush of energy he brings us.  Amen.

UNTOUCHED BY THE INSULTS

PRAYER PAUSE

Wednesday 12 April 2017

UNTOUCHED BY THE INSULTS

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “The Lord coms to my help, so that I am untouched by the insults. So, too, I set my face like flint; I know I shall not be shamed.” (Isaiah 50 4-9)

Reflection. The “frame” of Jesus’ life is truth and justice. He speaks and does only what is radically true and his aim is to bring justice to the world. So, despite this being the week of violent opposition leading to his death, he does not waver. They can insult, betray and torture him but he will not flinch from the truth. We can be so hurt by insults. Why? Do we not believe in the triumph of truth?  If our conscience tells us we are doing what is right no insult can touch us. If it does, then we are the ones who have some homework to do. Insults are a golden road to humility.

Prayer. Lord, inspire us with your Spirit, that we do not feel all hurt and upset by insults but can turn them to good use.  Amen.

I HAVE TOILED IN VAIN

PRAYER PAUSE

Tuesday 11 April 2017

I HAVE TOILED IN VAIN

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “I was thinking, ‘I have toiled in vain. I have exhausted myself for nothing;’ and all the while my cause was with the Lord.” (Isaiah 49 1-6)

Reflection. The prophet’s words could easily be applied to Jesus in the garden. Here, still in the upper room, he foretells the treachery of Judas and the denials of Peter. And John ominously adds, “Night had fallen.” It was indeed the hour of darkness and we try in these days to enter into the suffering of Jesus and feel the weight and sorrow of his experience.  At times we also feel we have ‘toiled in vain,’ and it is good to know then our ‘cause is always with the Lord.’

Prayer. Lord, help us to be with you in your anguish and suffering. Help us to draw strength from our union with you as you are one with the Father.  Amen.

MY SOUL’S DELIGHT

PRAYER PAUSE

Monday 10 April 2017

MY SOUL’S DELIGHT

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights.” (Isaiah 42 1-7)

Reflection. The “servant” songs in Isaiah, such as this one, speak of Israel, weak and broken as it was. The songs will narrow down in their interpretation to Jesus himself: the suffering servant. Then they will widen out again to include all the people of God who strive to bring “true justice” to the nations, who do not “waver” in their pursuit of truth for all people for whom they are a “covenant” and who “open the eyes of all. It is the mission of the Church Jesus founded and it is our mssion, each one of us in our own way.

Prayer. Lord, help us, this Holy Week, to enter ever more deeply into the mission you give to each of us to bring true justice to the nation.  Amen.

A LEAP IN THE DARK

A LEAP IN THE DARK

Luyanda is an eight-year old girl who was born blind and deaf. We allow those two short words to sink in and we realise that two of the normal doors we have to connect us to the world are tightly closed against her. Yet when she feels safe, as she often does, she is a happy little girl secure in her parents’ love. I only feed on scraps of information about her but there is one story that says it all. When Luyanda meets people she does it by touch and one day her mother brought her to meet some visitors to the Special Needs Project. She went round touching each one of the strangers but when she came back to her mother and touched her she leapt into her arms.

It is a simple story of love conquering huge disabilities. It is a leap standing for the ways in which people conquer fear by welcoming the unknown with hope. We have a sense that that taking risks makes us more human. We “set out without knowing where we are going” (Hebrews 11:8) and we arrive.

Each year we approach Easter, each in our own way. Perhaps we note it and enjoy the few days off associated with it. Perhaps we go to church and try to enter into the suffering, death and rising of Jesus. But then we return to our world and carry on.  Or perhaps we think of the Luyandas of our world who actually live the only death and resurrection we are likely to witness. In the Syrias and Yemens of today there are untold stories of people conquering appalling conditions and leaping into the arms of hope.. 

Can Easter make a difference? Or have we so tamed it with bunnies and eggs? Or even with devotions and prayers? Can Easter penetrate our tired familiarity and shock us as the women at the tomb and the huddled group in the upper room were shocked? As Jesus pierced the resigned “we had hoped” of the two on the way to Emmaus, can he also breach our defences and open us to what John of the Cross calls the onward rush of God.

It is Easter! That means all is possible. In the Passion Jesus breaks through the darkness – sin, hatred, exploitation, death – to the light. Everything is changed. There are now no limits. The impossible becomes possible. To be human is to make that leap. May he “easter” in us!

9 April 2017                                         Palm Sunday A

Matt 21:1-11,                                     Isaiah 50:4-7                       Phil 2:6-11                                    Matt 26:14-27:66

I SHALL GATHER THEM

PRAYER PAUSE

Saturday 8 April 2017

I SHALL GATHER THEM

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “I shall gather them together from everywhere and bring them home to their own soil.” (Ezekiel 37 21-28)

Reflection. The promise, running through the paschal mystery, is of the good shepherd gathering the scattered flock into one sheepfold. Sin, the refusal to follow the law written in the human conscience and the consequent divisions and exclusions of people across the globe, has scattered the nations. The Jews have been physically scattered around the world for centuries. And even individuals live scattered lives unable to bring together their desires and the actual circumstances of their lives. The promise is of a gathering of all into unity – people with one another and with themselves. This homecoming is the desire and joy of every human heart.

Prayer. Lord, help us to be open to break down the barriers in our own lives and between people wherever we meet them.  Amen.

TERROR FROM EVERY SIDE

PRAYER PAUSE

Friday 7 April 2017

TERROR FROM EVERY SIDE

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “I hear so many disparaging me, ‘Terror from every side.’ Denounce him! Let us denounce him!” (Jeremiah 20:10-13)

Reflection. The mounting tension that will lead to the Passion is foretold by the prophet’s own life and is seen in the confrontation between Jesus and the Jews. We live this tension and terror today in many places and we want to live it also in our own hearts with compassion as we see the suffering of people.

Prayer. Lord, help us to live in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in so many places living the Passion today.  Amen.

BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS I AM

PRAYER PAUSE

Thursday 6 April 2017

BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS I AM

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: Jesus said, “I tell you most solemnly, before Abraham ever was, I am.” (John 8:51-59)

Reflection. We are aware of a new phrase entering political comment: push back! It is used to describe the civic response, for instance, to Donald Trump’s hostility to immigrants. People in the US are protesting, they are “pushing back.” As we approach Holy Week the conflict between Jesus and “the Jews”, representing all those down the ages who oppose him, is sharpening. The Jews reach back further and further; first it was Moses and now it is Abraham who is their anchor. But Jesus pushes back and says, “Abraham would have rejoiced to see my Day: he saw it and was glad.” The Jews continue to flounder. They have no response. They are stuck in their limited world view.

Prayer. Lord, help us to notice when we refuse to open our door, preferring the comfort of our own home to the knock of the visitor.  Amen.

DESCENDED FROM ABRAHAM

PRAYER PAUSE

Wednesday 5 April 2017

DESCENDED FROM ABRAHAM

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: Jesus said, “You will learn the truth and the truth will make you free.” They answered, “We are descended from Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone.” (John 8:31-42)

Reflection. Commentators say the whole of John’s gospel is a trial, with the gospel itself being the judge. Here, the Jews, who stand for humanity, desperately cling to their identity as children of Abraham. Jesus does not question this but invites them to go further, to see the present as Abraham would see it. He would have rejoiced to see this day. But the Jews can’t move. We can be like that, stuck in our default mode, clinging to our comfortable assessment of who we are. We are blind to the evidence before us. We cannot clear space in this assessment for Jesus himself to approach us (Matt 28:9).

Prayer. Lord, help us to clear the ground this Easter, to allow you to come to us and question our clinging to worn attitudes.  Amen.