PRAYER MOMENT
Monday
17 March 2014, St Patrick’s Day!
BE COMPASSIONATE
Pause. Be still
in the presence of God.
Reading: “Be
compassionate as your Father is compassionate…. Give and there will be gifts
for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will
be poured into your lap ” (Luke 6:36-38)
Reflection. We
are well into Lent now. It can be like the feeling of the second term at
school. It is winter. It lasts for ever. And today’s reading from Daniel
(26:16-19), “we have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly” does
nothing to relieve the gloom. But while Daniel lists the woes of the people he
is bursting to change mood and recall the “kindness”, “mercy” and “pardon” of
God. God is like the father of the prodigal son longing to heal and welcome back
the one who has strayed. So the joy of new life, so evident in that parable, is
close to the surface in the grimmest of moments. The Archbishop of Damascus writing
about their “fourth Lent spent in war” in Syria says “poor families are opening
their doors to impoverished refugees.” In the midst of their own pain families
are showing divine compassion for others.
Prayer. Lord, teach
us to be compassionate, to open our hearts, especially when we feel down and
tired and maybe bitter about something. Amen.
David Harold-Barry SJ
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