MOVED BY THE SPIRIT

PRAYER MOMENT (For the next eight days I will be out of internet range)

Monday 26 October 2015

MOVED BY THE SPIRIT

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Everyone moved by the Spirit is a child of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons and makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’” (Romans 8:12-17)

Reflection. “Moved!” That is a beautiful word. What moves me? What gets me out of bed in the morning and propels me through the day? What draws me to make the choices I make and brings happiness or woe? Paul celebrates the gift we receive from God; a gift that banishes fear and leads us into peace. Even if it means “sharing his sufferings” it will also mean “sharing his glory.”

Prayer. Lord, we thank you for the gift of your Spirit, moving us at every moment. Help us to be attentive. Amen.

‘I WILL BRING THEM BACK’

‘I WILL BRING THEM BACK’

People have always migrated from the beginning of history. It is only in modern times we have felt the need for visas. Europeans today feel threatened by the sheer numbers of immigrants. They call it a crisis, that is, a moment of decision. Do we block their entry? But then what do we do next? Build walls? Fences? Send them back? But how? Or do we welcome them? But then how do we welcome so many? It will strain our housing, our schooling, our health services. Our voters may react and throw us out of government? Do we contribute to improving conditions where they come from? Building peace in their countries?

The crisis draws out the worst in people. “Backlashes.” Attacks on immigrants’ homes have multiplied in Germany. But the crisis also brings out the best in people. Germany, in particular, has positively welcomed the migrants. They have said in effect, “we don’t know how we will manage, but come anyway!” I find this one of the bright points in this whole drama. The German Chancellor has risen above political calculations in a generous act of humanity. She doesn’t, for a change, count the consequences.

I find this profoundly moving in a world where politicians are forever opting for safe solutions. It is a witness to the vision that we find in the Hebrew scriptures and the gospel. “I will gather them from the far ends of the earth” (Jeremiah 31:8) is a promise for all people and we see in the gospel Jesus doing it one person at a time. The public life and journeys of Jesus climax in the healing of one man who cries out to him and, hearing his call, throws away his cloak (his security) and “follows him along the road” (Mark 10:52).

Europe, America and Australia – all developed areas of the world - have people knocking on their doors. Their response is mixed. Their leaders calculate: “what will our people tolerate?” We see all this “out there.” But what do I do in my own small world. Only yesterday a boy came to me for help and I had good reasons for refusing him. I calculated. Maybe I was right? Maybe not! But I did not feel good about it. And so the dilemma continues. People are “migrating” into my “space” all the time. And I am not very good at opening my door.

25 October 2015                   Sunday 30 B

Jeremiah 31:7-9                    Hebrews 5:1-6                                     Mark 10: 46-52         

IF THE SPIRIT IS LIVING IN YOU

PRAYER MOMENT

Saturday 24 October 2015

IF THE SPIRIT IS LIVING IN YOU

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit living in you.” (Romans 8:1-11)

Reflection. The pages in the Jerusalem Bible that give us Paul’s letter to the Romans are packed with footnotes. Sometimes the text only covers an inch at the top of the page. Why? Because great efforts are made to explain Paul’s meaning. “The Law gives information; it does not give spiritual strength” it says in one place. And we can say the same of a multitude of books and adverts today. We know a lot but we don’t carry out the works of justice that the gospel calls us to. It is only the deep belonging to Jesus that the Spirit gives that helps us do that.

Prayer. Lord, help us to welcome the Spirit of Jesus into our hearts and llives. Amen.

WHO WILL RESCUE ME?

PRAYER MOMENT

Friday 23 October 2015

WHO WILL RESCUE ME?

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “What a wretched person I am! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death?” (Romans 7:18-25)

Reflection. Paul now states the great dilemma. I know what the right thing to do is. But I find that I just don’t do it.. I am perfectly aware that the choices I make are not the best. But I cannot bring myself to change my way of behaving. I find myself powerless. Paul calls it the “slavery to sin.” Then the grace of God, the life of God, comes to me through Jesus and changes everything. I experience a new creation in myself, a new power to face the world and the evil that confronts me so persistently. This is the gift of God brought to us by Jesus and Paul will now rejoice from chapter eight onwards.

Prayer. Lord, help us to rejoice in the new life you give us. Help us to live this life in all the circumstances of our day. Amen.

YOU HAVE BEEN SET FREE

PRAYER MOMENT  (Apologies for breaks in these reflections.)

Thursday 22 October 2015

YOU HAVE BEEN SET FREE

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Now you have been set free from sin and become slaves of God.” (Romans 6:19-23)

Reflection. It is not difficult to imagine what being set free from prison must be like. A whole world of restriction has just fallen away and I am free. Paul rejoices in this image of Christian freedom, which he experienced, and he wants to share it with his readers. The letter to the Romans is so central because here more than anywhere else – even in the gospels – we have the clear expression of human freedom at its fullest. This is what we were born for. This is our destiny, our glory. It begins now but it blossoms into eternity. The countless moments we experience it now flow, like little streams, into a vast river and a boundless sea.  

Prayer. Lord, help us to rejoice in the great gift of freedom that you give us. Help us to guard it and nourish it through our faith. Amen.

HE GREW STRONG IN HIS FAITH

PRAYER MOMENT  

Saturday 19 October 2015, Jean de Brebeuf and the Martyrs of N America

HE GREW STRONG IN HIS FAITH

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Abraham grew strong in his faith convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” (Romans 4:20-25)

Reflection. I see these days with Romans as precious moments when we reflect on the gift of faith. It is that quality of life that stretches us beyond. We don’t all have to make our way up the St Lawrence River in a canoe and end our days in excruciating torture at the hands of hostile people, as the North American martyrs did. But life does present us each day with moments that stretch us if we can notice and accept them. Sport gives us one kind of stretching template, one kind of mirror. But we have our own tests of faith that help us “grow strong”.  

Prayer. Lord, help us to notice those moments in the day that invite us to move beyond our security and reach out. Amen.

FLOWERS IN THE DESERT

FLOWERS IN THE DESERT

Each year I am astonished anew by the colours at the end of the dry season. Just when you expect the earth to be parched and exhausted there is a blaze of colour. First it is the Msasa, then the Jacaranda, the Flamboyant and a whole variety of shrubs with various colours of leaf and flower. It is as though nature taunts us: you thought I was finished, but just look!

Pope Francis is regularly in the media in words and gestures; he reaches out to the most neglected and “useless” members of society. He stops his car to speak to a parent who lost his son in a ferry disaster or a little disabled girl. He meets victims of abuse and listens to their story. He addresses the United Nations and reminds them of the poor and vulnerable. He seeks to remind us all that there is life in unexpected places.

He is a Jesuit and has drawn from the Society of Jesus the great motif of love and service, amar e servir. To serve is to plan, to act, to follow up and to plan again. All these things, while good, can also be a step removed from the people “on the ground.” There can be a service which never senses “the smell of the sheep.” Francis calls us not only to work for people but to sit with them, listen to them and learn from them. Oh, that this would happen among Jews and Arabs, Sunnis and Shiites, Russians and Americans!

But our world is more comfortable with force rather than listening, with numbers rather than individual faces. We do not allow ourselves to see the beauty in the parched earth. “You know how the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them…. But it shall not be so among you. Whoever wants to be great must be your servant.” We will never achieve the breakthrough we want until we learn to listen. The Israelis may say, “Why should we listen to them when they do not listen to us?” This is the barren spiral leading nowhere. It is like the stairway in Addis Ababa built by the Italians when they occupied the country in 1936. It was meant to be part of some grand building but all that remains is the spiral stairway leading nowhere.

The message of the Church to the world today is for us all to listen to one another, especially the weakest and most vulnerable. Just think how many small and great problems could be solved is we could sit for a moment and listen to one another. Abandon preconceived solutions and simply listen. Then a solution will suddenly emerge. A flower will blossom in a barren desert.

18 October 2015                                  Sunday 28 B

Isaiah 53:10-11                                    Hebrews 4: 14-16                                Mark 10:35-45