THROUGH JESUS

PRAYER MOMENT Saturday 7 February 2015 THROUGH JESUS Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within. Reading: “Through Jesus, let us offer God and unending sacrifice of praise.” (Hebrews 13:15-21) Reflection. I am in Europe at the moment, Ireland to be precise, my original home, and people remark on the great changes in recent years. One area is in religious belief. Years ago nearly everyone went to church but perhaps if you look at why they went you might find many did it because everyone else did it. Now people feel free to go or not go and young people may see ‘church’ as just one other adult activity they are free to adopt or not. And if they have not had the opportunity to ‘touch the clothes’ of Jesus, like the woman in the gospel, to get to know Jesus, they well choose to opt out. Religion today is about coming to know and love a person or it is nothing at all. Prayer. Lord, teach us to know you, to discover you in your people and to come to love and follow you. Amen. David Harold-Barry SJ

THOSE WHO ARE IN PRISON

PRAYER MOMENT Friday 6 February 2015, St Paul Mike and the martyrs of Japan and Musami THOSE WHO ARE IN PRISON Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within. Reading: “Keep in mind those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; and those who are being badly treated, since you too are in the one body.” (Hebrews 13:1-8) Reflection. This letter has told us how we have come into the presence of God and it comes to a close by having us look around at all our fellow pilgrims, especially those who are suffering. There are those in physical prisons, like the Central Prison in Harare. But there are also those in the prison of loneliness and sickness, unemployment and intellectual disability. We are called to stop for a moment and spend time with those who are in such prisons and try to share their pain. Maybe we cannot solve their problems but we can bring them comfort and we can discover that they help us to realise that we too can be in a prison of our own. Those in prison can be our liberators. Prayer. Lord, teach us to open our hearts to those who are lonely and in prison and help us discover that we too can be in prison and need freeing. Amen. David Harold-Barry SJ

WHAT YOU HAVE COME TO

PRAYER MOMENT Thursday 5 February 2015, St Agatha WHAT YOU HAVE COME TO Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within. Reading: “What you have come to is the city of the living God where everyone is a ‘first born’ and a citizen of heaven.” (Hebrews 12:18-24) Reflection. The letter to the Hebrews in its closingchapters presses home the message that we have now been led into the presence of God by Jesus. We have not come to the frightening scenes on Mount Sinai that the early Israeites witnessed but to the gentle presence. This is not something in the fuure. We already have entered this presence here and now. We ‘have come’ to it. It is not something we ‘will come’ to. The Christian life is lived ‘in God.’ But let us not cheapen these words and make them too familiar. We still approach the living God with awe and wonder as well as confidence and intimacy. Any complacency about our faith would be dangerous. Ours is a troublesome though joyful journey. Prayer. Lord, we pray for confedence, courage and joy as me live in your presence all the days of our life. Amen. David Harold-Barry SJ

TRAINING THOSE HE LOVES

PRAYER MOMENT Wednesday 4 February 2015 TRAINING THOSE HE LOVES Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within. Reading: “Do not get discouraged when the Lord reprimands you. For the Lord trains those whom he loves.” (Hebrews 12:4…15) Reflection. Faith allows us to understand the purifying power of suffering and self discipline.While much suffering has been removed in certain areas of human life – through medicine, for example, or social security where it is available – suffering will never be absent in one way or another. To say ‘the Lord is training us’ is to evoke an image of discipline for a purpose. And that is what it is. Hebrews speaks of the High Priest offering himself once and for all and now calls all to share in that offering which purifies the person and prepares them for the promise God makes to all. To the one with faith suffering has meaning. Prayer. Lord, help us to be at peace when suffering comes, knowing that we share in your great offering. Amen. David Harold-Barry SJ

THE SIN THAT CLINGS

PRAYER MOMENT Tuesday 3 February 2015 THE SIN THAT CLINGS Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within. Reading: “With so manywitnesses in a great cloud on every side of us, we too, then, should throw off everything that hinders us, especially the sin that clings so easily, and keep running steadily in the race we have started.” (Hebrews 12:1-4) Reflection. I met someone recently who was setting her mind towards improving her relationship with her husband after a long separation. To witness a person struggling with their hurts and their conscience and coming to something they ‘feel better’ about is a source of wonder and joy. We can become ‘comfortable’ in our sin, that is, in some stance we take up towards others as we think this gives us the freedom we crave for. But sometimes the realisation comes that our stance is not a true one and we are really avoiding what is deepest within. That ‘great crowd of witnesses’ is all the ancestors and people we know or don’t know who are now with God and are cheering us on to be true and drop all that separates us from ourselves and from others. Prayer. Lord, help us to be true; to listen to our conscience, to your Spirit in our hearts. Amen. David Harold-Barry SJ

FOR ALL THE NATIONS

PRAYER MOMENT Monday 2 February 2015, the Presentation of the the child Jesus in the temple FOR ALL THE NATIONS Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within. Reading: “My eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared all the nations to see, a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke 2:22-40) Reflection. Samuel was ‘handed over’ to the Lord at the shrine at Shiloh and now Jesus is also handed over in the temple. Simeon is the new Eli who receives the child and pronounces a blessing, rejoicing in the fulfilment of the promises made long ago which the faithful remnant of Israel had guarded closely in their hearts. He would be a ‘light for the nations’ and the ‘glory of Israel.’ But he will be sign of contradiction and a sword will pierce Mary’s heart. There will be a time of decision when many will reject him. But also many more will receive him. This time of decision is always present every day and every moment. It cuts through our own hearts as we welcome him - and reject him - each day. Prayer. Lord, may your grace flow in our hearts that we may welcome you each day and each moment. Amen. David Harold-Barry SJ

AND WITH AUTHORITY

AND WITH AUTHORITY In times of intense crisis we are often given leaders who steer us through. Americans revere the memory of President Abraham Lincoln who led the country through a civil war born of slavery and secession. There was a northern and southern USA for a while with a multitude of confused and opposing views on the burning issues of the day. He ended slavery and saved the union but it cost him his own life. He was assassinated as the war ended. In the lifetime of the elders among us we witnessed another leader, Winston Churchill, rally a despairing Britain to stand up to Hitler and fight. The enemy was at the gates but his speeches fired up his countrymen and women to resist and hold on even though for a time, the UK was the only country opposing the dictator who was virtually ruling Europe. He too was assassinated, but only politically, as the war ended. And it is not necessary to give even the barest details of what Nelson Mandela achieved by his focused and enduring intent on overcoming apartheid. Everyone knows it. What is common to these three leaders is a clear vision and enduring courage. If we study their lives before they became known and revered we find much searching of heart, many failures and a good deal of personal suffering. They did not flinch through fear of failing or being rejected. They thought little of their own comfort and security. They were not interested in power and wealth except in so far as it enabled them to serve the people. But the most vital thing about these leaders and so many other men and women in positions of authority is the effect they had, or have, on others. They generate hope. In all three cases the people they liberated were at a loss to know what to do. Most had just given up and sat and waited. They saw no solution. When these leaders came along they stirred something within; they released a power in people and enabled them to rise up and struggle against the evil that held them in thrall. When Moses told the demoralised people of Israel marooned in the desert of Sinai that God, ‘will raise up for you a prophet from among yourselves,’ he was promising just such a leader. This leader would give the people hope. He would enable them to see their own gifts and strengths, and develop and use them. This is the meaning of the word ‘authority.’ It comes from a Latin word meaning ‘to grow.’ Someone in authority has only one task: to help others to grow. Be they parent, teacher, local councillor, MP or president, they have basically this task. The Old Testament likes to use the word ‘shepherd.’ The shepherd’s only task is to lead the sheep to pasture and protect them from wild animals. That just about defines the role of those ‘in authority.’ So when the people of Capernaum observed the actions of Jesus we are told, ‘his teaching made a deep impression on them because, unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority.’ Jesus releases energy in people, makes them aware of their gifts and helps them engage with courage in the issues troubling our world. 1 February 2015 Sunday 4 B Deuteronomy 18:15-20 1 Corinthians 7:3-35 Mark 1:21-28