IT IS HIDDEN FROM YOUR EYES

PRAYER MOMENT

Thursday 19 November 2015

IT IS HIDDEN FROM YOUR EYES

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “If you only understood the message of peace! But alas it is hidden from your eyes.” (Luke 19:41-44)

Reflection. Jesus has reached Jerusalem and pauses on the mount of Olivet. He looks over Jerusalem and utters this cry from his heart, “If only …” If only people in Syria and Iraq, France and America, Somalia and South Sudan, my suburb and yours …  If only we could know the peace of Christ that goes beyond all our imagining … If only we could open our hearts to the presence of the Holy Spirit we received in baptism and reach out to one another! But, alas, we prefer to cling to our prejudices, our hurts and our hatreds. One man who lost his wife in Paris in the bombing last week said, “I refuse to give them the gift of my hatred.” He is refusing to hate. He has heard Jesus’ cry.

Prayer. Lord, help us to rise above our unexamined attitudes and reach out of the peace you offer. Amen.