OF COURSE I WANT TO

PRAYER MOMENT Friday 9 January 2015 OF COURSE I WANT TO Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within. Reading: “A man covered in leprosy implored Jesus, ‘if you want to, you can cure me.’ Jesus stretchd out his hand, touched him and said ‘of course I want to. Be cured!’” (Luke 5:12-16) Reflection. This whole period, from Advent through Christmas, is the introductory revelation of who Jesus was and what he came to do. It will be completed in Holy Week. I am in Preston, in the UK, and the Christmas lights are still on in the High St. They too are a revelation but possibly a remote and vague one to busy shoppers. We are thrown, so soon after Christmas, into the busy life of Jesus and the exerpt today ends with, ‘he would always go off to some place where he could be alone and pray.’ As we return to the full engagements of normal life in a new year we seek for a sharpened sense of the revelation of God. And times where we can be alone, in our mind and hearts, help us do this. Prayer. Lord, we believe ‘you want to’ give us life to the full. Help us to withdraw at times to dispose ourselves to receive that life. Amen. David Harold-Barry SJ