I am away for some days. Back soon.

NOT OF THE DEAD, BUT OF THE LIVING

PRAYER PAUSE  

Sarurday 25 November 2017

NOT OF THE DEAD, BUT OF THE LIVING

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Now he is God, not of the dead , but of the living; for to him all are in fact alive.”  (Luke 20:27-40)

Reflection. In the accompanying reading, from 1 Maccabees 6, King Antiocus realises at the end of his life he got it all wrong. He was thinking on another level. In this gospel “some Sadducees” also get it all wrong in their trick questions about life after death. Jesus cuts through their useless posturing. To God “all men and women are alive” whether they are “dead” or not. That is a traditional belief anyway in this part of the world where we speak of the “living dead.” The difference Jesus makes is to embue these living dead “who are judged worthy of a place in the other world” with joy and peace in a way we cannot now imagine. All fear is over and the triumph of God in men and women is complete.

Prayer. Lord, help us to have your mind and to see with your eyes. Amen.

HE WEPT OVER IT

PRAYER PAUSE  

Thursday 23 November 2017

HE WEPT OVER IT

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “As Jesus drew near Jerusalem and came in sight of the city he wept over it and said, “If you had only understood the message of peace.”  (Luke 19:41-44)

Reflection. God weeps over our follies and cannot save us from the consequences. Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. Zimbabwe was “destroyed” by years of folly and neglect. And we know that in our own lives there are many things we have only slowly come to understand. Jesus wept over the city and Christians later built a small chapel to mark the spot. It is simply called Dominus Flevit, the Lord wept. God weeps over our sad world. But, like every mother who weeps for their children, he does not despair of us. There are always new moments – like in Zimbabwe this week- where we can begin again, and again and again. Seventy times seven. We will get there in the end. “All will be well.”  

Prayer. Lord, help us to be keenly aware. Help us not to miss our opportunity. Lord, that we may see! Amen.

BECAUSE HE WAS NEAR JERUSALEM

PRAYER PAUSE  

Wednesday 22 November 2017, St Cecilia

BECAUSE HE WAS NEAR JERUSALEM

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Jesus went on to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and they imagined that the kingdom of God was going to show itself there and then.”  (Luke 19:11-28)

Reflection. For Luke Jerusalem is key. His gospel starts there and ends there. As early as chapter nine the focus is set towards the city. It was to be the place of Jesus’ manifestation and only Luke has all the Resurrection appearances in or near (Emmaus) Jerusalem. But the kingdom would not be revealed as people imagined it would. Jesus uses the image of a corrupt would-be ruler, and the cooperation of some of his cronies, to show that the time for action had come. ‘If people in politics and business are so engaged the “children of light” should be even more committed.’ But do we grasp the urgency of this?

Prayer. Lord, we know “the kingdom of God is among us.” Help us to lay our hand to the plough and engage in revealing that kingdom to all among whom we live. Amen.

WHO IS MY MOTHER?

PRAYER PAUSE  

Tuesday 21 November 2017, Presentation of Mary in the temple

WHO IS MY MOTHER?

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Your mother and brothers are outside and want to speak with you.” But Jesus replied, “Who is my mother?... Anyone who does the will of my Father.”  (Matt 12:46-50)

Reflection. At first Jesus’ words shock us. He ignores his mother and family in preference to those he is speaking to. But we know he takes opportunities to shock; to wake up his hearers, and us, to realise that the kingdom comes first – even before family. He knew that his mother had embraced the kingdom from her earliest years when she was presented in the temple by her parenst according to Jewish custom. She was the one who did the will of God above all others. The incident inspires us to look at our values: what we put first.

Prayer. Lord, we rejoice in the gift of Mary, your mother and ours. We ask that she may lead us to put the values of your kingdom before all else in our lives. Amen.

WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?

PRAYER PAUSE  

Monday 20 November 2017

WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “When the blind man heard the crowd going past he asked what it was all about, and they told him that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by.” (Luke 18:35-43)

Reflection. Curiosity is a great gift. It has driven explorers and inventors. It is a force and an energy that carries us forward. Jesus could have just passed by and an opportunity would have been missed. But the blind man is curious and asks what is happening. When he hears he acts. And he is not put off by those who say ‘you are disturbing us’ He insists. And it is his curiosity that leads to his faith and to his healing.

Prayer. Lord, help us to search that we may find, ask that we may receive and knock that you may open the door to us. Amen.

A DEFINING MOMENT

A DEFINING MOMENT

Forty nine years ago I was twenty four months into my new life, teaching history at St Ignatius College, Chishawasha, when a serious effort was made to resolve the then “Rhodesian problem.” Harold Wilson, Prime Minister of “Britain”, as he called it, was negotiating with the unconstitutional leader of Rhodesia, Ian Smith, who had led his followers into a Unilateral Declaration of Independence three years earlier. They could find nowhere to meet on dry land – a sign in itself – and so opted for a ship at sea.

Between classes we hurriedly checked the news and after a few days they hammered out some kind of an agreement. From the African point of view it was flawed as it effectively left power with the whites for a considerable time ahead. But from the point of view of hard liners in Smith’s coterie, it went too far in hinting at majority rule albeit in the distant future. It was rejected.

So as we wait now, nearly fifty years on, I seem to be having a déjà vu experience as we await the outcome of the present talks. Sometimes I wonder if we have ever had a moment of “normality” since the days the Rhodesians skewed the country in their own interests. There was a brief honeymoon in 1980 but after barely two or three years, the balance of interests vanished and we have lived with the consequences until Tuesday last.

This 14^th of November will, we hope, go down as a turning point or, if you will, a tipping point. Tough negotiations are in progress and it seems hard to imagine that, after all we have been through, the different sides will fail to come up with a solution that is just to all sides. The image of two school children, one back and one white, nonchalantly walking past an army tank in the Harare says much for the calm, absence of threat and hope in our new situation.

There is a torrent of talent, damned up over the past twenty years, ready to burst into the civic, social, economic and cultural life of Zimbabwe. Our earnest prayer and longing goes with all those who are in a position to facilitate the change we want. We are ready, not just for a government of all the talents, but a country where each one can use his or her gifts for the benefit of others and, in consequence, of themselves.

Generations yet unborn expect this of us. Let us pray that our present leaders will rise to the occasion.      

19 November 2017                 Sunday 33 A

Proverbs 31:10 … 31              1 Thess. 5:1-6              Matt 25:14-30