AS HIS FATHER DAVID

PRAYER PAUSE  

Thursday 8 February 2018, Josephine Bakhida of the Sudan

AS HIS FATHER DAVID

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Solomon’s heart was not wholly with the Lord as his father David’s had been.” (1 Kings 11:4-13)

Reflection. This is an astonishing compliment to David considering what he got up to in his time. But the author’s intention is to look at the heart and not so much at the lapses, great as they were. And this is a consistent theme in the Scriptures right through to the time of Jesus. Where is your heart? In our gospel today we have the pagan woman of Tyre who cuts through all the prejudice against foreigners and woman and just insists Jesus heals her daughter. She would not take ‘no’ for an answer. This woman has “heart” and Jesus immediately recognizes and rejoices in  it. The heart of the “professional” religious people of Israel, the scribes and the Pharisees, by and large were far from this.

Prayer. Lord, give us a heart that is wholly centred on you. May we never be discouraged by our failures. Amen.

NOTHING THAT GOES IN

PRAYER PAUSE  

Wednesday 7 February 2018

NOTHING THAT GOES IN

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Nothing that goes into a person from outside can harm them; it is the things that come out of a person that does the harm.” (Mark 7:14-23)

Reflection.

Prayer.

WILL GOD REALLY LIVE AMONG US?

PRAYER PAUSE  

Tuesday 6 February 2018, Martyrs of Japan, martyrs of Musami

WILL GOD REALLY LIVE AMONG US?

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Then Solomon said, ‘Yet, will God really live among men on the earth? Why, the heavens cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built.’” (1 Kings 8:22-30)

Reflection. Solomon is amazed at the way things have developed. He built the temple and so completed the work of David., But then he ponders the purpose of the temple; a place where God will live among men? Impossible! And yet that is the promise. And God came to live among us. The Pharisees, into day’s gospel (Mark 7:1-13), refuse to consider it and backtrack. Yet it is real. God lives amng us, “at work among the sons and daughters of men.” He works hrough our thoughts, our desires, our words, our hands. He is with us always and we are his temple. We pray to be faithful and are inspired by the martyrs – some of us knew those who died at Musami that night thirty one years ago today.  I was in Toronto and a seven hour difference in time zone meant I got the news as early as breakfast next day.

Prayer. Lord, bless the work of our heart and hands. Amen.

I HAVE BUILT YOU A DWELLING

PRAYER PAUSE  

Monday 5 February 2018, Agatha

I HAVE BUILT YOU A DWELLING

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Then Solomon said, ‘I have built you a dwelling, a place for you to live in for ever.’”  (1 Kinga 8:1…13)

Reflection. This reading, together with Mark 6:53-58 – our gospel today, - suggest three ways in which God has dwelt and is dwelling with his people. In the old Jewish dispensation the Holy of Holies in the temple represented the awesome presence of God among his people and they went up to Jerusalem to worship. The gospel shows how Jesus was among the people healing them and every one comes to him from all the towns and villages. And then we have his presence among us today: in the temple of our own hearts at all times and every place. He is present in the world in all its painfully evolving structures edging towards justice among the nations and often slipping back into narrowness and selfishness. But the overall movement is forwards.

Prayer. Lord, help us to know your presence each day. Amen.

A LIGHT IN THE DARK

A LIGHT IN THE DARK

Some Christmas cards from Europe trickled in towards the end of January and one of them was striking. It featured Rembrandt’s 1647 painting of the Holy Family’s Rest on the Flight into Egypt. The picture is almost totally dark, black as night with only the final traces of daylight. But towards the bottom left the Holy Family is resting among trees around a blazing fire: an oasis of light “amidst the encircling gloom” (Newman).

The darkness can stand for many situations but perhaps primarily the dark deed of Herod in slaughtering the children. Matthew’s account mirrors the grim reality of a world caught in a struggle for power where the innocent suffer.

Generations of Afghans, dating back to the 1970s, have known nothing but war and when yet another atrocity is reported it briefly appears on the headlines and is then forgotten. Last week 103 people died when a bomb was detonated in the capital, Kabul, but the world has already moved on.  

What gloom and darkness in that suffering country! And yet there are reports of people sending messages of hope and signs of people mobilising to resist. There are oases of light appearing in the black despair. “Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness!”

With a thrill we realise that people always push back against the forces of evil. There is something in human nature, perhaps God’s greatest gift, which enables us to fight back against darkness. We have that power. Always!

Job, in his desolation, asks, “Is not human life on earth no better that drudgery?” Many a prisoner or long term patient in a hospital must feel that. But at every moment and every place we have the power to fight back; to resist the approach of evil in our own life and in the world. That little group around the fire in the dark night is a sign for everyone. “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” (John 1:5)  

4 February 2018                                  Sunday 5 B

Job 7:1-7                                             1 Corinthians 9:18-23                         Mark 1:29-39

THEY HURRIED TO THE PLACE

PRAYER PAUSE  

Saturday 3 February 2018

THEY HURRIED TO THE PLACE

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “And from every town they all hurried to the place on foot.”  (Mark 6:30-34)

Reflection. At this time, when the apostles had “no time even to eat”, Jesus wanted to go away with them for a break. But the people hounded him and would not give him or them any peace. They were hungry for his words. They felt a great vacuum in their hearts which they sensed he could fill. So they wouldn’t let him have a break and he responded by “setting himself to teach them at some length.” Is there an urgency and a hunger today for “the gift of God”? (John 4:10). There is. But it is expressed in a variety of ways that our antennae can try to pick up: a desire for meaning, a desire for work - especially fulfilling work, a desire for belonging and relationships and a desire for the transcendent – that which takes us beyond our daily experience to the life in the spirit which satisfies our restless hearts.

Prayer. Lord, help us to listen to the desires of our restless hearts and reach out for the food that satisfies (John 6:27). Amen.

COMPLETELY LIKE

PRAYER PAUSE  

Friday 2 February 2018, Presentation

COMPLETELY LIKE

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “It was essential that in this way he should become completely like his brothers.” (Hebrews 2:14-18)

Reflection. Forty days after Christmas Mary and Joseph follow the Jewish custom of presenting the child in the temple. This is an act of total identification with the plan of God for Israel – that the people should be “a light to the nations”. Jesus, the glory of Israel, is that light. He is God made flesh, “completely like us so that he could be a compassiuonate and trustworthy high priest.” This is the light of the world and in Him we are to be that light. The Second Vatican Council called one of its key documans, the “Light of the Nations.” It is a programme that we are to live out at every moment. It is a challenge and it is our glory.

Prayer. Jesus, you suddenly appeared in the temple when no one was expecting anything. May we, your Church, “appear” each day in the midst of the labour of the world and shed your light. Amen.