CUT IT OFF

PRAYER PAUSE

Thursday 24 May 2018

CUT IT OFF

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading:  “And if your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off.” (Mark 9:41-50)

Reflection. Language does not get more shocking and unsettling than this.  Jesus uses a graphic image to point to the urgency of the moment.  This passage is full of violent metaphors to tell his hearers the time for action has come.  They must choose.  A world isssue today is climate change.  We have to choose.  If we don’t, catastrophe is round the corner.  Jesus says this urgency affects everything – global issues and our personal lives.  If a relationship is not good or an attachment to some scheme is blocking us or a habit we have is destroying us -  cut it out.  Get rid of it.  Jesus announces the kingdom of God has come. Time has run out.  We can no longer “wait and see”.  We have to act.

Prayer. Lord, give us the light to see what we must do.  Help us to change what we can.  Give us patience to accept what we cannot change. Amen