THEY RESTED

PRAYER PAUSE

Holy Saturday, 15 April 2017

THEY RESTED

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: ““They rested on the Sabbath Day.” (Luke 23:56).  

Reflection. The Sabbath, such a point of friction between the Jews and Jesus, was originally the day “God rested” after he had created the world. For Jesus’ friends it was a day of desolation, fear and confusion. They locked their doors. For us it is a day trustful anticipation. Much of our life is waiting – actually physically in doctors’ “waiting” rooms or, more often, the waiting for life’s issues to mature – like the farmer who waits for his crop to ripen. We are anxious to see problems resolved. But sometimes we have to wait to allow the pieces to fall into place. You cannot push the river. It has its own pace.

Prayer. Lord, teach us to trust that you are at work. We don’t have to do everything. We do what we can then we wait. Teach us this.  Amen.

A MAN OF SORROWS

PRAYER PAUSE

Good Friday, 14 April 2017

A MAN OF SORROWS

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “A man of sorrows and familiar with suffering, a man to make people screen their faces; he was despised and we took no account of him. And yet ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried.” (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)

Reflection. The fourteenth century author of The Cloud wrote, “Everyone has plenty of cause for sorrow but they alone understand the deep universal reason for sorrow who experience that they are. Every other motive pales beside this one. They alone feel authentic sorrow who realise not only what they are but that they are. Anyone who has not felt this should really weep, for they have never experienced real sorrow.” Can we try to understand this? Many things make us sorrowful but often they have much to do with our failures and hurts. And all of this is rather self-centred. The writer here is going beyond our egocentric view to tell us that just being human is a great sorrow: it limits us and we cannot be fully what God created us to be. We ache to become what, deep down, we want to be; a person who reflects the divine life, the image of God we are made in. Only death will release us from our limitations.

Prayer. Lord, as we try to share your sorrow and suffering today, help us to reach out for the divine life you long to share with us; may our words and actions reflect this longing.  Amen.

THIS IS MY BODY FOR YOU

PRAYER PAUSE

Holy Thursday 13 April 2017

THIS IS MY BODY FOR YOU

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “The Lord Jesus took some bread, and thanked God for it and broke it, and he said, ”This is my body which is for you; do this as a memorial of me.” (1 Co 11:23-26)

Reflection. An agenda is “what is to be done.” This simple action of Jesus, taking some bread and then some wine, and saying , “This is for you,” announces the great work he is about to do and which will be carried on to the end of time. He gives himself “for me”, for every individual person and for every human project. This is the great energy at the heart of creation ever in movement in each one of us. The sun, with its light and heat, gives physical energy to all things. The Son, in the power of the Spirit, dwells and works in each of us and in our common projects. He is the light of the world and the energy of all things. This night is the “official opening” of this work, though it had begun long before.

Prayer. Father, in every Eucharist we express our thanks for the gift of your Son. Help us to receive the onrush of energy he brings us.  Amen.

UNTOUCHED BY THE INSULTS

PRAYER PAUSE

Wednesday 12 April 2017

UNTOUCHED BY THE INSULTS

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “The Lord coms to my help, so that I am untouched by the insults. So, too, I set my face like flint; I know I shall not be shamed.” (Isaiah 50 4-9)

Reflection. The “frame” of Jesus’ life is truth and justice. He speaks and does only what is radically true and his aim is to bring justice to the world. So, despite this being the week of violent opposition leading to his death, he does not waver. They can insult, betray and torture him but he will not flinch from the truth. We can be so hurt by insults. Why? Do we not believe in the triumph of truth?  If our conscience tells us we are doing what is right no insult can touch us. If it does, then we are the ones who have some homework to do. Insults are a golden road to humility.

Prayer. Lord, inspire us with your Spirit, that we do not feel all hurt and upset by insults but can turn them to good use.  Amen.

I HAVE TOILED IN VAIN

PRAYER PAUSE

Tuesday 11 April 2017

I HAVE TOILED IN VAIN

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “I was thinking, ‘I have toiled in vain. I have exhausted myself for nothing;’ and all the while my cause was with the Lord.” (Isaiah 49 1-6)

Reflection. The prophet’s words could easily be applied to Jesus in the garden. Here, still in the upper room, he foretells the treachery of Judas and the denials of Peter. And John ominously adds, “Night had fallen.” It was indeed the hour of darkness and we try in these days to enter into the suffering of Jesus and feel the weight and sorrow of his experience.  At times we also feel we have ‘toiled in vain,’ and it is good to know then our ‘cause is always with the Lord.’

Prayer. Lord, help us to be with you in your anguish and suffering. Help us to draw strength from our union with you as you are one with the Father.  Amen.

MY SOUL’S DELIGHT

PRAYER PAUSE

Monday 10 April 2017

MY SOUL’S DELIGHT

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights.” (Isaiah 42 1-7)

Reflection. The “servant” songs in Isaiah, such as this one, speak of Israel, weak and broken as it was. The songs will narrow down in their interpretation to Jesus himself: the suffering servant. Then they will widen out again to include all the people of God who strive to bring “true justice” to the nations, who do not “waver” in their pursuit of truth for all people for whom they are a “covenant” and who “open the eyes of all. It is the mission of the Church Jesus founded and it is our mssion, each one of us in our own way.

Prayer. Lord, help us, this Holy Week, to enter ever more deeply into the mission you give to each of us to bring true justice to the nation.  Amen.

A LEAP IN THE DARK

A LEAP IN THE DARK

Luyanda is an eight-year old girl who was born blind and deaf. We allow those two short words to sink in and we realise that two of the normal doors we have to connect us to the world are tightly closed against her. Yet when she feels safe, as she often does, she is a happy little girl secure in her parents’ love. I only feed on scraps of information about her but there is one story that says it all. When Luyanda meets people she does it by touch and one day her mother brought her to meet some visitors to the Special Needs Project. She went round touching each one of the strangers but when she came back to her mother and touched her she leapt into her arms.

It is a simple story of love conquering huge disabilities. It is a leap standing for the ways in which people conquer fear by welcoming the unknown with hope. We have a sense that that taking risks makes us more human. We “set out without knowing where we are going” (Hebrews 11:8) and we arrive.

Each year we approach Easter, each in our own way. Perhaps we note it and enjoy the few days off associated with it. Perhaps we go to church and try to enter into the suffering, death and rising of Jesus. But then we return to our world and carry on.  Or perhaps we think of the Luyandas of our world who actually live the only death and resurrection we are likely to witness. In the Syrias and Yemens of today there are untold stories of people conquering appalling conditions and leaping into the arms of hope.. 

Can Easter make a difference? Or have we so tamed it with bunnies and eggs? Or even with devotions and prayers? Can Easter penetrate our tired familiarity and shock us as the women at the tomb and the huddled group in the upper room were shocked? As Jesus pierced the resigned “we had hoped” of the two on the way to Emmaus, can he also breach our defences and open us to what John of the Cross calls the onward rush of God.

It is Easter! That means all is possible. In the Passion Jesus breaks through the darkness – sin, hatred, exploitation, death – to the light. Everything is changed. There are now no limits. The impossible becomes possible. To be human is to make that leap. May he “easter” in us!

9 April 2017                                         Palm Sunday A

Matt 21:1-11,                                     Isaiah 50:4-7                       Phil 2:6-11                                    Matt 26:14-27:66