UNLESS THE FATHER DRAWS

PRAYER PAUSE

Thursday 19 April 2018

UNLESS THE FATHER DRAWS  

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “No one can come to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me.” (John 6:44-51)

Reflection. This is a hard saying to understand.  Does it mean the Father does not draw everyone but only some?  It does seem that vast numbers of people go through life paying little or no attention to what is spiritual within them. In the first reading for today (Acts 8:26ff) Philip is suddenly sent to teach an Ethiopian who is traveling home from Jerusalem. The traveller echoes the same experience of wonder and joy that the two going to Emmaus had.  It all seems so haphazard. You pick one here, one there. The Acts gives us only selected glimpses of what is happening. Yet Jesus tells us the Father knows exactly what he is doing. We do not see the whole picture.  We just get snapshots.  And that is true today.  We have so many questions and so few answers. Our task is to trust: to believe that God loves the world and all its people and is working in everything to achieve his purpose for them. 

Prayer. Lord, may we open our hearts to trust that you are at work and know exactly what you are doing in the lives of each of us and all of us. Amen