Reflections
1 April 2009
Gospel
He said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake for one hour? Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
Mk 14: 37-38
For reflection…
The central question is -
“Are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God, people with an ardent desire;
To dwell in God’s presence,
To listen to God’s voice,
To look for God’s beauty,
To touch God’s incarnate word,
And to taste fully God’s infinite goodness?”
Henri Nouwen ‘In the name of Jesus’
8 April 2009
Our prayer…
Across the barriers that divide race from race;
Reconcile us, Lord, by your cross.
Across the barriers that divide the rich from the poor;
Reconcile us, Lord, by your cross.
Across the barriers that divide people of different faiths;
Reconcile us, Lord, by your cross.
Across the barriers that divide Christians;
Reconcile us, Lord, by your cross.
Across the barriers that divide men and women, young and old;
Reconcile us, Lord, by your cross.
Confront us, Lord, with the hidden prejudices and fears which deny and betray our prayers. Enable us to see the causes of strife, remove from us all false sense of superiority. Teach us to grow in unity with all God’s children.
Amen.
15 April 2009
For reflection….rolling back the stone
The mission of a community is to give life to others, that is to say, to transmit new hope and new meaning to them. Mission is revealing to others their fundamental beauty, value and importance in the universe, their capacity to love, to grow and to do beautiful things and to meet God.
Mission is transmitting to people a new inner freedom and hope; it is unlocking the doors of their being so that new energies can flow; it is taking away from their shoulders the terrible yoke of guilt and fear. To give life to people is to reveal to them that they are loved just as they are by God, with the mixture of good and evil, light and darkness that is in them; that the stone in front of their tomb in which all the dirt of their lives has been hidden can be rolled away. They are forgiven; they can live in freedom. Jean Vanier
22 April 2009
Gospel
The two disciples told what had happened on the road, and how Jesus had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." Luke: 24:35-36
For reflection…
Dear God,
We struggle, we grow weary, we grow tired.
We are exhausted, we are distressed, we despair. We give up, we fall down, we let go. We cry. We are empty, we grow calm, we are ready. We wait quietly.
A small shy truth arrives. Arrives from without and within. Arrives and is born. Simple, steady, clear. Like a mirror, like a bell, like a flame. Like rain in summer. A precious truth arrives and is born within us. Within our emptiness. We accept it, we observe it, we absorb it. We surrender to our bare truth. We are nourished, we are changed…we are blessed.
We rise up. For this we give thanks. Amen.
Michael Leunig
29 April 2009
Gospel
Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10:11
For reflection…
Ancient philosophers and mystics used to say that, before being born, each soul is kissed by God and then goes through life always, in some dark way, remembering that kiss and measuring everything in relation to its original sweetness.
Inside each of us, there is a dark memory of having once been touched and caressed by hands far gentler than our own. That caress has left a permanent imprint inside us, one so tender and good that its memory becomes a prism through which we see everything else.
Thus we recognize love and truth outside of us precisely because they resonate with something that is already inside us. Things ‘touch our hearts’ because they awaken a memory of that original kiss. Moreover, because we have a memory of once having been perfectly touched, caressed, and loved, every experience we meet in life falls a little short. We have already had something deeper. When we feel frustrated, angry, betrayed, violated, or enraged it is because our outside experience does not honour what we already know and cling to inside.
(Not sure of the author…this reflection came to us through Philip Carter, Julian Centre
6 May 2009
Scripture
Little children, let us love not in word or speech but in truth and action. 1 John 3:18
For reflection…
Remember, brothers and sisters, to preach the Gospel always, even if sometimes it means having to use words. Francis of Assisi
13 May 2009
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. John 15: 9
Life becomes a terrible burden when we lose touch with the presence of a loving Saviour and see only hunger to be alleviated, injustice to be addressed, violence to be overcome, wars to be stopped, and loneliness to be removed. All these are critical issues, and Christians must try to solve them; however, when our concern no longer flows from our personal encounter with the living Christ, we feel oppressive weight. Henri Nouwen ‘Prayer Embraces the World’
20 May 2009
Gospel…
Lifting his eyes heaven, Jesus prayed saying: Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. John 17:11b
For reflection…
Divisions between Christians on fundamental matters of faith and discipleship seriously wound our witness before the world. In Korea, as in Australia, the gospel was brought by conflicting voices, proclaiming discordant Good News and internally contradicting the message that God has reconciled the world in Christ. Together however, by God’s grace, we can be renewed and heal others.
Ezekiel’s vision of two sticks, inscribed with the names of the divided kingdoms of ancient Israel, becoming one in God’s hand, is a telling image of the power of God to bring about reconciliation, to do for a people entrenched in division what they cannot do for themselves. It is a highly evocative metaphor for divided Christians, prefiguring the source of reconciliation found at the heart of the Christian proclamation itself. On the two pieces of wood which form the cross of Christ, the Lord of history takes upon himself the wounds and divisions of humanity. In the totality of Jesus’ gift of himself on the cross, he holds together human sin and God’s redemptive steadfast love. To be a Christian is to be baptised into this death, through which God, in his boundless mercy, etches the names of wounded humanity onto the wood of the cross, holding us to himself and restoring our relationship with God and with each other.
Linked to our other efforts for unity among Christians—our prayer for unity is thus a privileged instrument through which the Holy Spirit is making that reconciliation in Christ visibly manifest in the world Christ came to save.
Let us pray for one another and for our world in this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity http://www.ncca.org.au/departments/faith_and_unity/weekofprayer
27 May 2009
As we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost…..
Flame-dancing Sprit, come,
sweep us off our feet and
dance us through our days.
Surprise us with your rhythms;
dare us to try new steps, explore
new patterns and new partnerships;
release us from old routines
to swing in abandoned joy and
fearful adventure. And
in the intervals,
rest us in your still centre. Amen.
Janet Morley St Hilda Community
3 June 2009
Gospel…
Jesus said, “Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Mt 28:20b
For reflection…
In the spiritual journey we travel through the night towards the day. We walk not in the bright sunshine of total certainty but through the darkness of ignorance, error, muddle and uncertainty. We make progress in the journey as we grow in faith. Christopher Bryant