GOD MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE

PRAYER PAUSE

Friday 25 May 2018, Africa Day

GOD MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading:  “But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female.” (Mark 10:1-12)

Reflection. The Pharisees operate out of a limited frame of mind; what is legal and what is illegal and by their skill in knowing the differenvce they exercise control and power over the people.  Jesus has a quite different view: he raises issues to a new height. Built into the Jewish law is a vision of marriage which reflects the divine bond between God and humankind. This is an indissoluble bond and marriage is intended to reflect it.  But Jesus is compassionate towards people who fail to live by this ideal for all sorts of reasons.  Yet the ideal remains. In Ireland today people are voting on whether to extend the legal limits of abortion. Again, God holds all human life as sacred.  But, again, we struggle, in our consciences, to discover how to live this vision while being compassionate towards those who find they are in dreadful circumstances. 

Prayer. Lord, help us to hold firmly to the vision you imprint in our nature while, at the same time, may we be full of compassion for those for whom the vision is sometimes too hard to reach because of their circmstances. Amen