HE HAS BROKEN DOWN THE BARRIER

PRAYER MOMENT                      

Tuesday 21 October 2014

HE HAS BROKEN DOWN THE BARRIER

                     

Pause. Be still in God’s presence.

Reading: “For he is the peace between us, and has made the two into one and broken down the barrier that used to keep them apart, actually destroying in his own person the hostility caused by the rules and decrees of the law.” (Eph 2:12-22)

Reflection. But the barriers remain. You see them in the streets of Hong Kong between the Chinese government and the students. You see them in the wall dividing Israel and Gaza. You see them in our own society – walls and barriers. And they are not just the ones made of iron and bricks. They are in the attitudes we have between those who have and those who have not and between the healthy and the sick and disabled. Jesus broke down the barriers but we keep rebuilding them. We find it too threatening to live with this person who is different. The call to change my way of thinking and believe in the way Jesus is inviting me to is just too hard. Let us stay as we are and look for more secure systems of keeping others out.

Prayer. Lord, open our hearts to see that we cannot build a new society on security alone. Help us to take those little steps to reach out to those who are different. Help us to catch up with you and break down the barriers between us. Amen..  

David Harold-Barry SJ