AS A HEN GATHERS HER BROOD

PRAYER MOMENT 

Thursday 30 October 2014

AS A HEN GATHERS HER BROOD

                     

Pause. Be still in God’s presence.

Reading: “How often have I longed to gather your children, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you refused!” (Luke 13:31-35)

Reflection. The “scattering” of the Jewish people into Egypt after the human trafficking of Joseph and into Babylon after they broke the covenant stand as images of the scattering that continues among us. People flee Syria because of war and others, like our own in Zimbabwe, migrate for a better life elsewhere. Often families are divided with a son or daughter in all the continents of the planet or, worse, husbands and wives are divided by thousands of miles of land or sea. The gathering of Israel, of which the prophets speak, stands for the gathering of all the people of God, the healing of families and nations and the coming together of people. It is something longed for as we see in the father of the prodigal son and in Jesus as he looks at Zacchaeus in his tree. Sin scatters us. Forgiveness gathers us. Jesus would have often seen hens in Nazareth clucking to call their chicks to shelter under their wings. As so often, he uses a simple image from daily life to teach us what the kingdom of God is like. .

Prayer. Lord, you long to gather your people into one. Help us to break down the barriers that divide us and move closer to your dream and make it our dream too.. Amen.  

David Harold-Barry SJ