Two Levels

PRAYER MOMENT  

Tuesday 18 February 2014.

TWO LEVELS

Pause. Be present with Jesus in the boat for five minutes!

Reading. “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you not yet understand?” (Mark 8:14-21)

Reflection. Chapter 8 in Mark speaks to us in different ways about two levels of understanding. Here the disciples are preoccupied with food. They have forgotten to take enough with them. Jesus uses their worry to raise their minds to another level. If you really live at the level of God and his kingdom (his reign) you are not going to be over troubled by such anxieties. God will provide. It is not that we are foolish and never prepare for journeys or other events but that we are not stuck at the level of arrangements and our own skills. There is a dimension in life which is more fundamental and that is the breaking in of the kingdom. This is something entirely new and as Mark gets to the heart of his gospel he insists on more and more.

Prayer. Lord, teach us not to be anxious about having everything prepared. Help us to see that what we do is your work and let us give you a part in it. Amen.

David Harold-Barry SJ