THE NIGHT IS OVER

PRAYER PAUSE

Friday 29 December 2017, Thomas á Becket

THE NIGHT IS OVER

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “The night is over and the real light is already shining..”  (1 John 2:3-11)

Reflection. The Old Testament book of Qoheleth saw all as “futiulity and chasing after the wind” (4:4). It is a pessimistic treatise with the recurring refrain, “All is vanity!” And indeed life is monotonous if one has no other perspective except “There is nothing new under the sun” (1:9). Christmas has changed all that and the early Church knew it. There was a lightness in their step when the disciples returned from Emmaus to Jerusalem. “The real light is shining.” But, like our constant companion, the sun, that light has to battle to seek out the corners of my own life, and the life we all share in our world, which are still covered by the “shadow of darkness” – a darkness dispersed on Christmas night (Isaiah 9:2).

Prayer. Lord, help us to allow your light to shine in the “encircling gloom”. May we welcome its piercing rays as it shows up the recesses where we hide from truth. Amen.

WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN

PRAYER PAUSE

Thursday 28 December 2017, The Holy Innocents

WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “A voice was heard … it was Rachel weeping for her children.”  (Matt 4:13-18)

Reflection. I met two year old Jane last Sunday. She was born in prison and is still there, accompanying her mother who is serving her sentence. Jane knows no other home but she is one of the lucky ones. She is surrounded by love. There are millions of innocent children in our world caught up in wars, migrations, famines, cyclones and injustices. Many lose their lives. And then there are those who die before they are born – their mothers either caught in the anguish of abortion or out of ignorance aborting their child simply because he or she is “unwanted.” This is a unique feast today when we remember all these children and we pause to consider that in the heart of God each of them is loved and held. This feast celebrates their unconscious witness to Jesus, who migrated to escape Herod. They are are martyrs too and they too are purified – all unknowing – in the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:5-2:2).  

Prayer. Lord, we pray for the countless children all over the world caught up in the consequences of disasters and injustices. May we all move forward to remove the causes of so much pain and build a world more in the image of you who made us. Amen.

WE HAVE TOUCHED

PRAYER PAUSE  (At the moment our internet sometimes works and other times doesn’t!)

Wednesday 27 December 2017, John

WE HAVE TOUCHED

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Something which has existed from the beginning, that we have heard, and we have seen with our own eyes; that we have watched and touched with our hands: the Word who is life.”  (1 John 1:1-4)

Reflection. John, the last of the gospel writers, the one who had pondered the mystery for decades before he wrote, behons his letter in awe at what he had witnessed: God living among us whom we saw, heard and touched. The reality of it penetrates deeper and deeper and it changes everything. I must rush now but that in brief is Christmas.

Prayer. Lord, may we grow in wonder at your presence among us. Amen.

INFURIATED AT WHAT HE SAID

PRAYER PAUSE  (At the moment our internet sometimes works and other times doesn’t!)

Tuesday 26 December 2017, Stephen

INFURIATED AT WHAT HE SAID

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “They were infuriated when they heard what he said, and ground their teeth at him.”  (Acts 6:8-10, 7:54-59)

Reflection. The birth of Jesus immediately leads into the birth of the Church. “There was no room at the inn” immediately leads into there being no room in the hearts of some of  the Jewish leaders for Stephen’s message about Jesus. “You are always resisting the Holy Spirit,” he says to them (Acts 7:51). In the clash the “strong” crush Stephen and he is killed. Luke draws many parallels with the death of Jesus, which was the logical outcome of his birth and taking on our human life. As  with Jesus, there is a trial before the High Priest and at the moment of his death Stephen repeats the words of Jesus of commending his spirit to God and forgiving his murderers.

Prayer. Lord, through your birth and journey with us, help us to struggle against the evil within us and in the world. Amen.

AS DEW IN APRIL

AS DEW IN APRIL

There is a six hundred year old English carol that likens God’s coming into the world in our flesh and blood to dew falling on the grass. You wake up in the morning and discover a glistening cover of damp moisture making everything shine. Where it comes from you do not know. It makes a silent appearance and all is changed.

He came all so still

Where his mother was,

As dew in April

That falleth on the grass.

Luke has the most developed story of Jesus’ birth and it is striking that hardly anyone knows what is happening. It is all “so still” and silent. Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth “in the hill country of Judah” and they rejoice over the news but who else knows? Christians have pondered for centuries the silence and obscurity of events that have changed and are changing the story of humanity.

And yet the transformation today is as hidden as it was then. Jesus liked the image of yeast which a woman mixes with flour (Mt 13:33) and many of his other parables spoken of silent change. Extraordinary efforts are taking place in countless places to respond to the crises of our time. Centuries ago war and famine in Yemen would have passed unnoticed by the outside world. Today it is the deep concern of many world bodies trying to stop the war and relieve the suffering. But their work does not hit the headlines.

And there are many other issues in many other places, but everywhere there is a response. People work long hours unnoticed to address them. When we consider human rights we realise the progress that has been made since the middle of the last century. It is astonishing. Everywhere people are challenging governments, multinational companies and private individuals. Change is unstoppable.

We feel the weight of what it is to be human: the lies, distortions, compromises and selfishness. Yet a battle is raging between the best in human nature and the worst. The little child who was born in Bethlehem has really “brought fire on the earth” and it is burning (Lk 12:49).     

Christmas 2017

Isaiah 9:2-27                  Titus 2:11-14                           Luke 2:1-14

SEND ELIJAH BEFORE MY DAY COMES

PRAYER PAUSE  

Saturday 23 December 2017

SEND ELIJAH BEFORE MY DAY COMES

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Know that I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before my day comes, that great and terrible day.”  (Malachy 3: 1 … 24)

Reflection. Israel expected Elijah to return to prepare the way of the Messiah. John the Baptist was that Elijah although curiously he denies it in John’s gospel (1:21), preferring to be known simply as the voice that would die away in the desert and leave only the Word. John the Baptist has a central role in announcing Jesus – a role which every Christian has in the witness of their life. But Elijah was not the only one who would return. Jesus too will return at the completion of history to gather together the people of God into the kingdom of the Father. That day is the one we are looking to and the whole task of political, economic, social and cultural life is to listen to the voice of the Spirit, whether we recognise it as such or not, for the attainment of that day.

Prayer. Lord, as we celebrate your birth among us, may we come to know you more and may our love give us the energy to follow your way so that your kingdom may come in the world. Amen.

HIS MERCY REACHES FROM AGE TO AGE

PRAYER PAUSE  

Friday 22 December 2017

HIS MERCY REACHES FROM AGE TO AGE

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Holy is his name, and his mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear him.”  (Luke 1:46-56)

Reflection. Hesed is the Hebrew word meaning ‘loyal love’. It expresses the tender enduring relationship God has for his people Israel and by extension for all his people. It is also translated as ‘mercy’, ‘compassion’ and so forth. Here it is on the lips of Mary as she ponders the astonishing intervention of God in her life. She is to bear a son who will be Son of God and son of David. Her joy breaks out in this song the church sings every day: Magnificat, ‘my soul glorifies the Lord.’ It echoes, almost word for word, the song of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, at the boy’s birth when she had been barren for so long (1 Sam 1:24-28). And the word applies today to God’s enduring love for us in all our turmoil. In its technical meaning it applies to treaty obligations: God has hesed for us, And on our part we are to have hesed for God.

Prayer. Lord, may we open our hearts to receive your hesed. Have hesed too, on your people in Yemen and other places where people are dying and suffering so much. Amen.