6/7/08

The most important thing about each of us
is our capacity for goodness.
We can be a source of light.
We have hands that can care,
eyes that can see,
ears that can hear,
tongues that can speak,
feet that can walk,
and above all hearts that can love.
Unfortunately, through laziness, selfishness,
and cowardice, our light can be dimmed,
so that we become shadows of the people we could be.
Lord, help us to believe in our own goodness,
and to let the light of that goodness shine.
On seeing the light others see their way,
and you will be glorified.

The word of God is to the human heart
what a seed is to the earth.
However, just as a seed needs soil,
so the word needs a receptive heart.
The earth responds to the rain and sun
so that even the desert blooms.
But the arid human heart has the power to resist
so that it remains barren.
Lord, soften our hearts with your grace,
open them with your gentle love,
so that the precious seed of your word
may take root in our hearts,
and bear fruit in our lives.

I learnt one great lesson from my years in prison camps,
I learnt how a person becomes evil and how he becomes good.
Gradually I came to realise
that the line which separates good from evil
passes not between states,
or between classes, or between political parties,
but right through every human heart.
Even in hearts that are overwhelmed by evil,
one small bridgehead of good is retained.
And in the best of all hearts,
there remains an unuprooted small corner of evil,

(Alexander Solzhenitsyn)

Like Peter we too have often set out confidently
across the waters of life.
However, as soon as the winds of trouble rise against us,
and the waves of adversity begin to buffet us,
we lose our nerve and begin to sink.
Lord, when our faith falters, as it often does,
may we hear your gentle voice saying to us,
‘Courage! Do not be afraid,’
In that moment, Lord,
may your divine power uphold us,
calm our fears, steady our nerves,
and enable us to steer our little boat
to a place of safety and peace,
beyond the wind and the waves

Mary was a humble person.
Humble people care nothing for acclaim.
They receive Praise and honour the way a clean window
receives the light of the sun.
The brighter and more intense the light is,
the less you see of the glass.
It retains nothing of the light for itself
but lets it all shine through.
Mary attributed everything to God:
“The Almighty has done great things for me;
holy is his name”.
Mary will help us to be humble,
open and trusting before God.
Then God will enrich us,
and we too will sing his praises.

Peter has been called a stumbling saint.
He is a great consolation to us because we all stumble.
All of us are mere mortals,
who are inconstant in our beliefs.
We must learn to forgive ourselves
momentary weaknesses and failures.
We need to surmount these things
and see the world in less rigid terms.
We must not judge ourselves or others
by momentary inconsistencies,
but rather by commitment given over a long time.
Jesus was well aware of Peter’s faults,
but he saw that, in spite of everything,
his heart was sound.
Which meant he had the ability to love.
And in the long run love is what counts.

Gaining and Losing

There is a way of losing by gaining.
You can win an argument but lose a friend.
Through completion and promotion
you may advance in your profession,
but in terms of relationships you may be impoverished.
You energies are so focused on efficiency and success
that you haven’t time to grow emotionally
and to develop your capacity for relationship.
In one’s drive to attain power,
a person may sacrifice friendship and loyalty,
so much so that one ends up alone.
Lord, let me never forget your haunting words:
“What good will it do you to gain the whole world
if you lose your soul.”

“O that today you would listen to his voice.
Harden not your hearts.”
From a spiritual point of view, hardness of heart
Is one of the worst things that can happen to anyone.
To adopt a hard-hearted attitude is to maim oneself.
A hard heart can’t feel, can’t respond, can’t love.
A hard heart can’t experience joy.
A hard heart is a closed heart.
A hard heart is a barren heart.
A soft heart, on the other hand, is a blessing.
A soft heart can receive and can respond.
It can be saddened but it can also be deliriously happy.
Softened by the rain of God’s grace,
and warmed by the sun of his love,
the human heart can be turned from a desert into a garden.

When we forgive we free ourselves from bitterness,
and we free the other person of the burden of guilt.
But our forgiveness must come from the heart,
which means it must be true, sincere and warm.
A cold forgiveness is not much use.
Forgiveness should start now.
Putting it off only deepens the wound,
prolongs bitterness, and postpones happiness.
Life is short, time is fleeting.
Today is the day to forgive.
Lord, deliver us from the poison of bitterness,
and give us the grace to forgive from the heart
those who have offended us.
Then we will know the warmth of your forgiveness.

PRAYER / REFLECTION

“My thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are my ways your ways.
As high as the heavens are above the earth
so high are my ways above your ways,
my thoughts above your thoughts”, says the Lord.
How small our thoughts can be,
and how poor our ways of seeing and judging
We think miserly thoughts and act in miserly ways.
Why? Because we have small minds and small hearts
Lord, open our minds and enlarge our hearts,
so that we think more like you, and act more like you.
Let us not begrudge your goodness to others,
knowing that we are undeserving of your favours,
and stand more in need of your mercy than of your justice.

Amen

A father had three sons. One day he said to them,
“Go and work in the vineyard today”
The first said “Sure Dad.” But he didn’t go.
The second said, “I won’t go. However later in the day he changed his mind and went
grudgingly.
The third said, “Sure Dad”
And he went immediately and willingly.
Which of the sons will feel closest to the father at the end of the day?
The third, of course.
The more we do the will of God out of love,
The more we will appreciate his love for us.
Lord, save us from the darkness of broken promises
And help us to walk in the light of faithfulness.

Lord, you planted me on this earth.
You fenced me around with the love of family and friends.
Their care towered over me.
In the shelter of this tower I grew in safety and peace.
I put out early blossoms; I filled up with leaves.
People had great hopes for me.
But now the year of my life is passing.
The harvest is approaching.
What fruit have I to show?
What if, after all this care,
I have nothing to offer but sour grapes?
May you, Lord, have mercy on me,
and with your patient urging
help me to produce the fruits of love.

God’s Call

God’s call comes to us in many ways
and at many different levels.
However, his call is not so much a voice
as a tug at our hearts, which we feel
at quiet and reflective moments in our lives.
He is calling us to a deeper and more authentic life.
He is calling us into intimacy with himself.
He is calling us into community with others.
And at death he will call us into eternal life.
To accept means to admit our need.
Jesus said, “Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.”
A sense of something missing in our lives
is not a curse, but a blessing.
A spiritual hunger is God’s way
of inviting us to his banquet

Who can separate his faith from his actions,
or his belief from his occupations?
Who can spread his hours before him, saying:
“This for God and this for myself;
this for my soul and this other for my body?”
He who wears his morality only as his best garment
were better left naked.
Your daily life is your temple and your religion.
Whenever you enter into it take with you your all.
Take the plough and the forge, the mallet and the lute,
the things you have fashioned in necessity or for delight.
And take with you all people.
And if you would know God – look about you
and you will see him playing with your children.

(Kahlil Gibran)

To separate the two great commandments
Is a tragedy and goes clean contrary to the Gospel.
Yet unfortunately this often happens.
Those who have faith often have no love,
And those who love often have no faith.
Thus the Gospel has been torn in two.
Jesus spoke of two great commandments
The first- that we should love God.
The second- that we should love our neighbour
He didn’t say that they were the same thing,
But that they are like two sides of the one coin.
If we want the total Gospel we must have both
He himself showed us how to do this.

Saints are like windows.
Through them the light of God’s wisdom
streams into the world,
banishing the darkness
and brightening the road for uncertain travellers.
Through them the warmth of God’s love
radiates through the world,
banishing the coldness,
and warming the hearts
of even the most forlorn of his creatures.
And through them we catch a glimpse of another world,
a world that lies not just beyond the walls of our earthly home,
but even beyond the stars.

May the Lord bless us this day.
May the Lord touch
all who are hassled and distracted,
all who are harassed and dejected.
May his blessing bring us
patient and enduring hope
for he alone is the Lord of all time,
and of all our striving.
May the Lord help us
to live each moment as his gift
as we await his glorious coming
when he will bring us
to our joyful fulfillment.    

Bless us Lord,
With eyes well focussed on you.
Help us to see in you
the greatest gift of all time.
Let us sense your guiding presence
in all our loving,
in all our struggles,
to treat and to forgive.
Help us to build,
an atmosphere of encouragement
for all whom we meet.
As we await your coming
teach us to respect all creation
for you are its maker,
the Lord of all life.