ALL ARE ALIVE

PRAYER PAUSE

Saturday 19 November 2016

ALL ARE ALIVE

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Now he is a God, not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all people are in fact alive.” (Luke 20:27-40)

Reflection. It is a theme of the great novelists; what is it to be fully alive? So many settle for something less – satisfied with the trinkets of wealth and status. But Dostoyevsky or Lawrence search through their many pages for what it is that makes a person truly alive. Migrants risk everything to “have a better life.” They flee from the grinding poverty or oppression of their own countries in the hope that they will be welcomed in another which promotes freedom and opportunity. And even those who have these things still search. Teresa Cox, the British MP who was killed for her political beliefs earlier this year, was said to be “a person fully alive.”       

Prayer. Lord, may we not settle for just being alive but seek always the fullness of life which you give. Amen.

THEY DID NOT SEE HOW

PRAYER PAUSE

Friday 18 November 2016

THEY DID NOT SEE HOW

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “They tried to do away with him, but they did not see how hey could carry this out.” (Luke 19:451-48)

Reflection. So it was not decided till the very end – like the US election. The Jewish leaders were determined to “do away with him” but could not find a way. And Jesus, even in the garden, hoped it could be avoided. Few martyrs go to their deaths willingly. Death is the great enemy. But if there is no other way of working through the truth – whatever it is – then it has to be. Jesus “set his face like flint”, meaning he calmly and determinedly accepted the price of witnessing to the truth, and the truth set him, and sets all of us, free.   

Prayer. Lord, help us to be faithful each day in all the little events of life. Amen.

HE SHED TEARS OVER IT

PRAYER PAUSE

Thursday 17 November 2016, Elizabeth of Hangary

HE SHED TEARS OVER IT

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “As Jesus drew near to Jerusalem and came in sight of the city he shed tears over it and said, “If you in your turn had only understood on this day the message of peace. But, alas, it is hidden from your eyes!” (Luke 19:41-44)

Reflection. And Jesus is still weeping over the cities of Syria and Afghanistan because the way of peace is, despite all our education, communication and imagination, is still hidden from us. We cannot seem to rise to embrace the way of peace which is always available. We prefer to insist on what we want by force. But there is another image – that of the laughing Christ on the cross in the medieval castle of Xavier in Spain – which proclaims the victory of Jesus over all the dark forces we know so well. 

Prayer. Lord, may we open our eyes to the message of joy and peace that you offer us each day. Amen

HE WAS NEAR JERUSALEM

PRAYER PAUSE

Wednesday 16 November 2016

HE WAS NEAR JERUSALEM

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Jesus went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and they imagined that the kingdom of God was going to show itself then and there.” (Luke 19:11-28)

Reflection. It is a strange violent parable which was not selected for the round of Sunday readings during the year. There is a sense of urgency, rejection and the good use, by the majority, of their gifts. How they would have loved for the kingdom to “show itself then and there.” It would be the end of all their problems and struggles. They could just sit on their hands and things would happen around them. But God invites our engagement in the struggle. He wants to share the outcome with us. We have a choice. Americans are either rejoicing or mourning over the choice they made last week.  

Prayer. Lord, teach us to choose wisely, with courage and imagination. Amen

HURRY, COME DOWN

PRAYER PAUSE

Tuesday 15 November 2016, Albert the Great

HURRY, COME DOWN

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Zaccheus, come down. Hurry, because I must stay in your house today.” (Luke 19:1-10)

Reflection. This is one more of those colourful scenes in the gospel where Jesus takes the slightest hint of a response from a person and blows it up to become a life changing moment. Zaccheus only wanted a glimpse of Jesus, no strings attached. But that doesn’t work with Jesus. If we get involved – even a little bit – it leads on to great things. People look at us sometimes and hidden in their look there is often a cry for help. Sometimes we notice, sometimes we don’t. Jesus always notices.

Prayer. Lord, teach us the pain and the questions of people we meet. Amen

HE SHOUTED ALL THE LOUDER

PRAYER PAUSE

Monday 14 November 2016, Joseph Pignatelli

HE SHOUTED ALL THE LOUDER

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “The people in front scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he shouted all the louder, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.” (Luke 18:35-43)

Reflection. We are familiar with blind Bartimaeus. He hears Jesus is passing by and pleads with him persistently despite the people around who want a quiet life. Jesus delights in his persistence and says, “Your faith has saved you.” Commitment. Perseverance. We know these words. And we know they bring us through. Joseph Pignatelli joined the Jesuits around 1750 and when the Society was suppressed in 1773 he just remained a Jesuit in his heart despite people round him saying, “Forget it! Do something else.” He persevered forty years and had the joy of seeing the beginnings of the restoration of the Society.

Prayer. Lord, teach us focus and perseverance, despite obstacles in our way.  Amen

THE DAY IS COMING!

THE DAY IS COMING!

There was the day we sat our first big exams and the day we heard we had passed – or failed. There was the day we started work or the day we were laid off work. There was the day we knew we had found someone to share our life or the day it all fell apart. And there was the day our country chose to join Europe and the day we decided to leave it. Then there was the day we made peace in Colombia and the day we rejected the peace. And now there was the day, this week, when we voted for Hilary and we got Trump.

This weekend some of us will hear the words of Malachy, “The day is coming now, burning like a furnace.” I remember a day last March when it suddenly became possible that Trump, who, up to that time, was considered a wild card – almost a joke, might somehow make it. I remember thinking, ‘he has got his way most of the time all his life. How would he get his way if faced with the Russians or the Chinese?’ I don’t want to claim to be a prophet but the thought did flash across my mind, ‘this guy could get things done.’ I still wished he would not be chosen.

But he was. And this poses a weighty reflection. To clear the ground, let’s just once again remember we have to live with our choices. If we voted for Hitler in 1933 – or even if we didn’t but enough others did – we have to live with that. God gives us a world where we make choices and we have to accept the results. We can moan that people vote for comfort and security and not for risk and generosity. But that is how it often is. It will delay our movement towards building community on earth but it won’t, ultimately, thwart it.

What the Trump event does bring into stark relief is the - may I use the word? – awesome power we have to influence the direction of world history. What has been bothering me these past few days is, not the decision that was made in the US, but the fact that men and women can make such decisions and have such colossal influence on the rest of us. The furnace Malachy is talking about is of our own stoking, not God’s.

Getting on in years and looking at my own life, I am appalled by the number of occasions I have let slip to make courageous decisions. I avoided them. It prompts me to set out, even at this eleventh hour, and lay hold of “the day” the Lord gives,  and take courageous and generous decisions that mirror the heritage we all have of being made in the image of God.

13 November 2016     Sunday 33 C

Malachy 3:19-20        2 Thessalonians 3:7-12          Luke 21:5-19