The Light of Christ

Christ’s light was not lit once in Bethlehem and then extinguished.
For two thousand years his light has shone upon the world.
And it will continue to shine
on all who believe in him and follow him.
The light of Christ is a persistent light,
and has the power to draw people to its shining.
It shines in the midst of disasters and upheavals.
It is a defiant light, which no darkness can overpower.
Its purpose is not to judge us,
but to show us the way to the Father’s kingdom.
God has called us out of darkness
into the wonderful light of his Son.
We must live as children of the light.
So, let us imitate the Magi,
and walk in the light of the Lord.

Lord Jesus, touch our eyes
so that we may see the signs of your presence
in our lives and in the world.
Touch our ears that we may hear your word
Touch our tongues so that we may profess your faith
Touch our hands so that we may give and receive.
Touch our feet so that we may walk in your paths.
Touch our minds so that we may understand your ways
Touch our wills so that we may be in tune with your will.
Touch our hearts so that we may bring your love
to our brothers and sisters
to the praise and glory of God.

Water into Wine

Jesus brought the wine of God’s love into the world.
Everywhere he went the old was made new.
For the couple at Cana he changed water into wine.
For the widow at Nain he changed tears into joy.
For Zacchaeus he changed selfishness into love.
For the thief on Calvary he changed despair into hope.
And on Easter morning he changed death into life.
Lord, be present with us today and throughout our lives.
And when through human weakness
the wine of love is found wanting,
touch our hearts and strengthen our wills,
so that we may taste the wine of unselfish love.

Write your name, Lord Jesus,
upon my heart there to remain
so indelibly engraved that no prosperity,
no adversity shall ever remove me from your love.
Be to me a strong tower of defence,
a comforter in tribulation,
a deliverer in distress,
an ever present help in trouble
and a guide to heaven
through the many temptations
and dangers of life.

Thomas a Kempis

Jesus fulfilled the ideal of love Paul speaks about
He was never in a hurry and was always kindness itself.
He never envied anybody, and never boasted about himself.
He was never snobbish, or rude, or selfish.
He did not take offence easily,
nor did he keep on talking about the wrong things that other people did.
He preferred to remember the good things and to rejoice in them.
He was tough – he could face anything.
And he never lost trust in God, or in people.
He never lost hope; he never gave in.
He never stopped loving.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,
but that we are powerful beyond measure,
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us,
We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant
gorgeous, talented and fabulous.”
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world,
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won’t feel insecure around you
We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us,
It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same,
As we are liberated from our own fears,
our presence automatically liberates others.

Nelson Mandela.

Blessed are the clean of heart;
they will see God.
Blessed are the humble of heart;
they will find rest for their souls.
Blessed are the warm hearted;
they will radiate goodness.
Blessed are those who work with the heart;
they will find joy in their work.
Blessed are those who do not lose heart;
they will find the strength to persevere.
Blessed are those who set their hearts on the Kingdom of God;
everything else will be given to them.

Longing for God

All of us can experience moments of great joy,
because in his goodness God allows us to taste on earth
the joys of the world to come.
However, moments of joy, no matter how wonderful,
will never satisfy the human heart.
What we long for is a permanent state of happiness.
But that is unattainable here.
So what must we do?  Like desert travellers,
we must go forward from one oasis to another,
with the conviction that God has a homeland
prepared for us at the end of our journey.
This conviction will make it possible for us
to travel onwards with an ache in our heart
and an unquenchable longing in our soul.

It isn’t the things you do,
it’s the things you leave undone,
which give you a little heartache
at the setting of the sun.
The gentle word forgotten,
the letter you didn’t write;
the flowers you might have sent,
are your haunting ghosts tonight.
The stone you might have lifted
out of your brother’s way;
the little heartfelt counsel
you were hurried too much to say.
The tender touch of the hand,
the gentle and kindly tone;
which we have no time or thought for,
with troubles enough of our own.

(Anon)

The prodigal son came home empty-handed.
He had no trophies to show his father,
no achievements with which to earn
his praise , his welcome, and his love.
He was a failure. Worse – he was a sinner.
He deserved to be punished – and he knew it.
Yet punishment was the last thing he needed.
To punish him would be like pouring water on a dying fire.
What happened?
When the father saw his lost son coming towards him,
his heart went out to him,
and next minute they were in each other’s arms.
It is an extraordinary experience to be loved in one’s sinfulness
such love is like a breeze to a  dying fire,
or rain falling on parched ground.
Those who have experienced this kind of love,
know something about the heart of God.

The quality of mercy is not strained;
it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
upon the place beneath.
It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
‘Tis mightiest in the mighty;
It becomes the throned monarch better than his crown.
It is enshrined in the hearts of kings.
It is an attribute of God himself.
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
when mercy seasons justice.
Therefore, though justice be thy plea, consider this –
that in the course of justice none of us should see salvation.
We do pray for mercy,
and the same prayer doth teach us all
to render the deeds of mercy.

(William Shakespeare)

This week each year Christians are drawn to Jerusalem,
If not in body, at least in mind.
They stand at the foot of the cross, beating their breasts,
and staring with pity at Jesus of Nazareth.
They listen with reverence as he prays for his killers:
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
But when the week is over they return to their homes
to resume their deep-rooted spites
and the burden of things they can’t forgive.
Let us not then weep for Jesus.
Let us weep for our own sins.
Then maybe, like Jesus, we will be able
to forgive others who sin against us.

A Quiet Joy and Peace

On Easter Day we still feel pain,
Our own pain and the pain of others.
But a new element has been introduced.
It doesn’t remove the pain,
But gives it a meaning, and lights it up with hope.
All is different because Jesus is alive
And speaks his words of peace to us.
Therefore, there is a quiet joy among us,
And a deep sense of peace.
Jesus has broken and power of death,    
And given us the hope of eternal life.
Lord, guard this hope with your grace,
And bring it to fulfilment in the kingdom of heaven.

While Jesus was alive, Thomas was as strong as an ox.
But when Jesus was put to death,
he became a reed shaking in the winds of doubt.
The truth was, though he did not realise it at the time,
that it was the Master that was the oak.
He was a mere sapling growing in his shade.
When the oak fell he was defenceless.
All of us are shaken by the winds of doubt.
We need to look at the Lords’ wounds,
and hear his gentle voice saying to us:
“Cease doubting and believe”.
Then, with Thomas we shall make bold to say:
“My Lord and my God”.

It can happen that we lose interest in people,
and even become blind to their strengths,
when we discover their limitations.
During his passion Jesus discovered the limitations of Peter.
Yet he didn’t write him off.
He continued to believe in him,
and in time he came good.
Like Peter, we are weak human beings,
who are inconstant in our beliefs.
We need someone who understands our weaknesses,
who realises that it may take time for us to overcome them,
and who doesn’t write us off because
we don’t produce the goods at once.

The deepest wound of all is that which affects the heart:
The feeling that one has not been loved,
that one is not precious to anyone.
Many people today are wounded at heart.
Each of us can do something to heal their wounds
We have hands that can make things,
and minds that can understand things.
But above all we have hearts that can give life.
We are not sterile people
We can give life to people who are inwardly broken.
We can show them that they are important,
and so bring life to them.
Today, Good Shepherd Sunday is also vocations Sunday.
But all vocations are vocations to love.

It is easy to love at a distance,
but not so easy to love at close quarters.
It is easier to give a few pounds to relieve famine in Africa
than to relieve the loneliness of someone living next door.
It is easy to love people who are far away,
but not always easy to love those who are close at hand.
Yet these are the people Christ asks us to love.
We must begin by loving the people near us.
That is where our love must start.
But, of course, it doesn’t have to end there,
And it shouldn’t.

To be glad of life, because it gives you a chance to love,
to work, to play, and to look up at the stars.
To despise nothing in the world except what is false and mean.
To fear nothing but what is cowardly.
To be guided by what you admire and love,
rather than by what you hate.
To envy nothing that is your neighbours
except his kindness of heart and gentleness of manner.
To think seldom of your enemies, often of your friends,
and everyday of Christ.
To spend as much time as you can, with body and with spirit,
in God’s out-of-doors.
These are little signposts on the footpath of peace.

Lift up your Hearts

The day of the Lord’s triumphant return to his Father
is not a day for narrowness or sadness.
Rather, it is a day for openness and joy.
Therefore, let us lift up our hearts.
Let us raise up our minds.
Let our spirits soar and be free.
For sin and evil and death have been overcome.
We know nothing of the mystery of the beyond.
All we have is his word: “Where I am, you too will be.”
Lord, you have kindled in our hearts the hope of eternal life.
Guard this hope with your grace,
and bring it to fulfilment in the kingdom of heaven.

Praying for the Spirit

Come, Holy Spirit.
Come with strength for the weak,
courage for the fearful,
light for those in darkness,
comfort for the sorrowful,
healing for the sick and injured,
guidance for those who are lost,
faith for those who are in doubt,
hope for those who have no hope
and love for those who have no love.
Come Holy Spirit, kindle in us the fire of your love,
and we shall renew the face of the earth.

God watches over us

Nowadays, thanks to the security camera,
we are often being watched,
watched by a cold dispassionate eye,
intent only in catching us in wrong-doing.
The feeling that someone is watching us
is not a pleasant feeling.
But the feeling that someone is watching over us
is a lovely feeling.
God is not watching us.
God is watching over us.
The conviction that God is watching over us
gives us comfort in times of sadness,
strength in times of weakness,
and hope in times of despair.

Remembering

Jesus said to his disciples:”Do this in memory of me”.
We all love to be remembered.
This was true even of Jesus.
But if we want to be remembered,
we have a duty also to remember.
Memory is a powerful thing.
Wrongly used it brings death;
rightly used it brings life,
and is a form of immortality.
It keeps the past alive.
Those we remember never die;
they continue to walk and talk with us.
Lord, when we celebrate the Eucharist
we are remembering you.
May that remembering bring us life here and hereafter.

I had a dream that I came to the Lord
trembling, ashamed, fearful and sad.
I told him my tale of betrayals.
When I had finished, I continued to kneel there,
waiting for the punishment I felt I richly deserved.
But what did he do?
He rose from his chair, took some ointment, and said,
“Let me dress your wounds.”
“What wounds/” I asked, puzzled.
“I am the one who has wounded others.”
But then in a flash I saw that he was right.
I too was wounded, for to sin is to suffer.
Astonished by his mercy, I let him dress my wounds.
Afterwards I went away airborne with joy.
His sheer goodness made me feel that I too was good,
and made me want to be like him.

Some people have an excessive need of approval from others.
The great luminaries of stage and screen
glow under the adulation of their fans.
But when the curtain goes down, and the lights fade,
they often feel empty and lonely,
because they realise they are valued,
not for themselves, but only for their talent.
Lord, grant that I might not get carried away
when people praise me,
or become downcast when people ignore me.
Grant that I may have a little lamp of my own,
a lamp which will enable me to see
the dignity which you have given me,
and which no one can take from me.

“ Write your blessed name ,O Lord
upon my heart, there to remain
so indelibly engraved,
that no prosperity or adversity
shall ever move me from your love.
Be to me a strong tower of defence,
a comforter in tribulation,
a deliverer in distress,
a very present help in trouble
and a guide to heaven
through the many temptations
and dangers of this life “