THE SOFT GRASS OF TRUTH

THE SOFT GRASS OF TRUTH

It is an interruption in the flow of the gospel when Jesus suddenly turns the spotlight on himself and says “I am humble in heart.” The word ‘humility’ is so familiar it slips by as something ‘spiritual’, unrelated to the hard tasks of daily life. But humility is powerful. Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoievski “often calls us to 'humble charity' (which) comes like cool water to tortured, passionate, ambitious spirits. It is like the soft grass into which one lowers one's head, through which one kisses the ground. It invokes the image of the patient, cruelly beaten Christ.” (Michael Novak).

A humble person is passionate about truth. It is beautiful to see it in political figures like Ghandi and Mandela. And it is often seen in artists who see their task as getting out of the way and letting truth speak. Ahdaf Soueif is an Egyptian novelist who entitles her latest work, Cairo, my City, our Revolution. She says she had been asked to write on her native city years ago but “just couldn’t” in the time of Mubarak. But then, with the revolution in Tahrir Square, she felt the pulse of energy and idealism of the young people, Muslim and Christian together in the square, celebrating their new found freedom together, praying with and supporting one another.

There was a truth about what was happening that flowed into her book and for a moment, she sensed the truth of the fundamental unity between people when what is best within has room to breathe. Soueif says that it is wrong to see our critical times as a division between an angry East dominated by Islamic fundamentalism and an embattled West vowing retribution with military might. It is far truer, she says, to see the best of people in East and West struggling together against those - in the East and in the West - who want to keep the world in the mould they have designed in their own interest, oblivious of our children’s inheritance.

In a similar way she allows the truth of the Israeli/Palestinian struggle to come out. The two-state solution, she says, has no chance of success. The truthful thing to do is to build one state where Jews and Arabs learn to live together.

All of this is humble charity on the world stage. Its foundation is a passion for truth. ‘Humus’ comes from ‘ground’ and the humble person is attached to what is left when all self-interest, all hidden agendas, are stripped away and we are standing on the bare earth. Again, in Dostoievski’s words, it is “the soft grass into which one lowers one's head, through which one kisses the ground.” Jesus is the light, the truth, the bread, the shepherd. He is all these things and he is “humble in heart.” He came to share in what is most basic and beautiful in what it is to be human. That is what we celebrate.

9 July 2017                              Sunday 14 A

Zechariah 9;9-10                     Romans 8:9-13                        Matthew 11:25-30

   

ISAAC BLESSED JACOB

PRAYER PAUSE        

Saturday, 8 July 2017

ISAAC BLESSED JACOB

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “The voice is Jacob’s voice but the arms are the arms of Esau.” (Genesis 27:1…29)

Reflection. We are uncomfortable with the deceit of Rebecca in pushing her younger son into the place of her elder to obtain their father’s blessing. Perhaps it is to do with the freedom of God to choose as he wishes. He chose Joseph, almost the youngest of Jacob’s sons to rule over his brothers and David, the youngest of Jesse’s, to be king. Perhaps it helps us, as we look around, not to jump to conclusions about people but to be accepting, welcoming, of everyone. The one we think little of may be the very one who will shine one day. God works with us in our best – and in our worst – moments.

Prayer. Lord, help us to see with your eyes and have a welcomeing heart for all your people. Amen.

I CAME TO CALL

PRAYER PAUSE        

Friday, 7 July 2017

I CAME TO CALL

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:9-13)

Reflection. Christians, especially Catholics, talk about a calling, a vocation, by which they often mean priesthood or religious life. And that is the sort of call Abraham, Mary and Paul received. Yet we are coinscious today that ‘calling’ has a much wider meaning. In fact everyone is called. It is just that for many the call is so hidden under layers of pressing needs or convention or fashion that  they cannot hear it and they settle for something less than their true worth. But one thing the Catholic Church has done – in the Second Vatican Council – is to articulate clearly the call of every person. We all have gifts and potential to assume and live out our divine destiny.

Prayer. Lord, help us to be aware of our calling and be able to live it! Amen.

HE SENT HER AWAY

PRAYER PAUSE        

Wednesday, 5 July 2017

HE SENT HER AWAY

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Abraham took some bread and a skin of water and, giving them to Hagar, he put the child on her shoulder and sent her away.” (Genesis21:5…20)

Reflection. It is hard to understand the banishment of Hagar and Ismael.. It seems cruel. All I can think of is that it is to emphasise the choice of Isaac and something far more cruel is about to happen to him. In chapter 22, which we read tomorrow, we have the sacrifice of Isaac. There is a slight upturn in the story as God points out a well to Hagar and saves her life and that of Ismael. Wells, of course, have great signigicance in the bible. They are a source of life for people and animals and a sign of baptism. In seemingly roundabout ways God leads us all to life.

Prayer. Lord, author of life, help us to trust your ways even if we do not understand them. Amen

EVEN THE WINDS AND THE SEA

PRAYER PAUSE        

Tuesday, 4 July 2017

EVEN THE WINDS AND THE SEA

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “The men were astounded and said, ‘Whatever kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him’.” (Matthew 8:23-27)

Reflection. It is an awesome moment in the gospel when the weakness of human beings comes face to face with power of God. The disciples realise their utter fragility in the storm at sea, They are helpless with a helpless ness that we often feel in the face of the “storms” that come our way. Yet God is there even if he is “asleep”. We can write and say these things but can they have an impact on our way of proceeding. Can we trust?

Prayer. Lord, we ask for that deep trust that you are with us even if it seems as though you are asleep. Amen

PUT YOUR FINGER HERE

PRAYER PAUSE        

Monday, 3 July 2017, Thomas

PUT YOUR FINGER HERE

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Put your finger here … Doubt no longer but believe.” Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God.” (John 20:24-29)

Reflection. “Doubting” has been attached to the name of Thomas is if it were some kind of failure on his part. But like Nicodemus, the woman at the well, , the man born blind , Martha and Mary, he was simply on the journey towards faith. All the disci[ples were and Jesus accompanied them throughout his mission and especially in the long discouses (Chs 13-17). We now use “the finger of Thomas” as a guiding principle in understanding complex issues, like witchcraft for instance. We are all on a faith journey. We may have doubts and difficulties but the presence of the Lord among us is the rock we rely on and we can “touch” him in so many ways – especially in the poor and suffering.

Prayer. Lord, lead us to the faith of the apostles. Help us to discern your presence today. Amen

Welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome to our shop, our restaurant, our hotel! I hope you will spend some money here. Welcome to our work place, our industry, our service! I hope you will be productive. Welcome to our school, our college, our university! I hope you will work hard and behave yourself. We use the word ‘welcome’ in many ways but there is a hidden agenda; you can come to us but we expect something from you. People even welcome the children born to them with the unsaid expectation that “they will care for me in my old age”!

Welcome, as we often meet it, is conditional. You are welcome so long as you repay your welcome. It is rare and wonderful to welcome unconditionally. I open my door to someone without any expectation of gaining anything in return. There is a story in 2 Kings of Elisha receiving such a welcome from a woman of Shunem. She provided for his needs without asking for anything. In time the prophet discovers she is childless and – in an echo of the Lord’s promise to the childless Abraham – he says to her, “This time next year you will hold a son in your arms.” And she did.

And this is not just a story from the bible. There was an account last year when Angela Merkel of Germany opened the country’s doors to a million migrants. A man responded by welcoming an Eritrean escaping persecution in his country. The man knew the Eritrean had nothing but he just opened his doors to him. After a while the migrant said he had a brother and could he come too? He was welcomed and there was eventually a third! All three were welcomed – unconditionally!

To welcome without any hidden agenda, any expectation of reward, is really an act of faith in humanity, a divine act. And it builds up relationships between people. It creates solidarity and breaks down the barriers that separate: fear, suspicion and the rest. We know that, in this, we are reflecting the way of Jesus, who revealed God to us as one who loves us unconditionally. How often it seeped into our religious training that God will love us and reward us if we behave: if we do certain things, religious things. No, he loves us unconditionally – whoever we are, whatever we have done.

I visit a prison every Sunday and I can see how true this last sentence is: it is obvious that God loves each person there – whatever they have done. And when they come to know this love it really touches them. But this is not just true of inmates of our prisons. It applies to all of us. We still live out of the heresy that we have to do something to earn God’s love. Not true! He loves me long before I do anything and will go on loving me long after – even if I mess up.

That does not, of course, give me an open ticket to be careless and presume on God.  While his love is unconditional we can still destroy our lives if we make foolish choices. Love of its nature looks for love in return. This is different from saying, ‘he loves us so that we may love him’. He loves us. Period! And we, can we do anything other than love him in return? True love is always free – and unconditional.  

2 July 2017      Sunday 13 A    2 Kings 4:8-16             Romans 6:3-11                        Matthew 10:37-42