Meeting Jesus through the Gospels
1. Sit quietly, recollect yourself. Concentrate on Jesus. Call on the Holy Spirit. Take your time. There is no rush and there is no fixed rule to follow. Be free in the Spirit.
2. Be aware that Jesus is with you. Use a mantra if you like, e.g. ‘Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ..’
3. Read the passage with Jesus who was there and in the Holy Spirit who inspired it.
4. Note the words and sentences that strike you.
5. Pray about these and ask the Lord to speak to you through his Spirit.
6. Keep a journal of the inspirations you are given for your life. Jesus is present to you and he is speaking to you.
7. If the passage is a ‘dramatic’ one try and live the passage in your imagination. Remember it is not just imagination because Jesus is present now with you. Put yourself in the scene. It is the Holy Spirit who makes Jesus real.
June 14th Monday
Matthew 5:38-42
38 'You have heard how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. 39 But I say this to you: offer no resistance to the wicked. On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well; 40 if someone wishes to go to law with you to get your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone requires you to go one mile, go two miles with him. 42 Give to anyone who asks you, and if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn away.
Do we believe in a God who is a loving Father, who cares for us, who will see to all our needs if only we seek his Kingdom and justice, who will intervene to see that justice is done and quickly? If we do we can follow these precepts of Jesus. If we don’t then we will be forced ‘to defend our rights’. The history of wars and self-defence don’t reveal many believers. But Jesus followed his own teaching. He refused to resist in Gethsemane , before the chief priests and Pilate. They crucified him. But his death brought life to the whole world. It takes courage and faith to follow Jesus. Who can believe that to refuse to resist the evil person is the way to conquer him, to generously respond to those who treat us unjustly can win them? Is Jesus a dreamer or is this the way to peace?
Tuesday 15th June 2010
Matthew 5:43-48
43 'You have heard how it was said, You will love your neighbour and hate your enemy. 44 But I say this to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and sends down rain to fall on the upright and the wicked alike. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax collectors do as much? 47 And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? 48 Do not even the gentiles do as much? You must therefore be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.'
Who has loved their enemies? Can we think of those in history who have followed the teaching of Jesus today? Do we love our enemies, do good to them or justify bombing them? ‘Kill your enemies before they kill you’. Mahatma Gandhi refused to hate, refused to practice violence. A Hindu he loved the Sermon on the Mount. Martin Luther King followed him too. Both gave their lives but did they not succeed? Has the Church followed its Master? Putting aside Governments what of us? Have you and I followed Jesus? Who are your ‘enemies’? What is your attitude to them? How do you treat them? As children of God, our standard is our Heavenly Father. He is perfect, does not take revenge on unbelievers or blasphemers but gives his good things to them too. We are called to imitate him. How far do you “Overcome evil by good”? (Rom. 12:23).
Wednesday 16th June 2010
Gospel Mt 6:1-6, 16-18
1 'Be careful not to parade your uprightness in public to attract attention; otherwise you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven. 2 So when you give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win human admiration. In truth I tell you, they have had their reward. 3 But when you give alms, your left hand must not know what your right is doing; 4 your almsgiving must be secret, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you. 5 'And when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them. In truth I tell you, they have had their reward. 6 But when you pray, go to your private room, shut yourself in, and so pray to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.
16 'When you are fasting, do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do: they go about looking unsightly to let people know they are fasting. In truth I tell you, they have had their reward. 17 But when you fast, put scent on your head and wash your face, 18 so that no one will know you are fasting except your Father who sees all that is done in secret; and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.
Jesus spoke in the context of a highly religious society. Rabbis prayed three times a day. There was much public prayer. It paid to appear religious, to pray often and long. Such persons were admired. Prayer, fasting and almsgiving were the pillars of Jewish religious society. Jesus is challenging his disciples; who are they doing it all for? Self or God? Does it come from a heart deeply in love with God and is it an expression of their inner spirit of reverent obedience to God? It is not the secrecy but the sincerity that he is calling for. In a secular and unbelieving society my love for God may make me pray and fast so as to be seen and so proclaim that I believe in a hidden God. You may have to ask; do I pray? Then why and for whom? Have I the courage to be seen?
Thursday 17th June 2010
Matthew 6:7-15
7 'In your prayers do not babble as the gentiles do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. 8 Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 So you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be held holy, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us. 13 And do not put us to the test, but save us from the Evil One. 14 'Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; 15 but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.
Jesus says prayer is not to be mechanical nor is the amount of prayers we say important. Ours is a personal relationship of children to a beloved Father and to Jesus as our Brother. Prayer is to live out this relationship. Jesus called his Father, Abba – a tender name used by children. We have the privilege of calling God tenderly too. This prayer is the Lord’s Prayer in that he prayed in this way. He invites us to share his prayer. We pray that our Father be glorified, reign and be obeyed. We pray for bread, the bread from heaven. We ask God to forgive us our sins. We too forgive others. Jesus too was weak and prayed to be spared evil. We too pray the same. Jesus stresses that we can only pray this pray if our hearts are open to God by our forgiveness of others. Is yours?
Friday 18th June 2010.
Gospel
19 'Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and woodworm destroy them and thieves can break in and steal. 20 But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworm destroys them and thieves cannot break in and steal. 21 For wherever your treasure is, there will your heart be too. 22 'The lamp of the body is the eye. It follows that if your eye is clear, your whole body will be filled with light. 23 But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be darkness. If then, the light inside you is darkened, what darkness that will be!
Saturday 19th June 2010.
Gospel
24 'No one can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or be attached to the first and despise the second. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money. 25 'That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and what you are to wear. Surely life is more than food, and the body more than clothing! 26 Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are? 27 Can any of you, however much you worry, add one single cubit to your span of life? 28 And why worry about clothing? Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin; 29 yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his royal robes was clothed like one of these. 30 Now if that is how God clothes the wild flowers growing in the field which are there today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more look after you, you who have so little faith? 31 So do not worry; do not say, "What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What are we to wear?" 32 It is the gentiles who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. 33 Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on God's saving justice, and all these other things will be given you as well. 34 So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.'
. Do you believe that you have a Father who loves you and is all powerful to help you become the person he dreamt of when he created you? Then if you do, why are you so anxious about anything in your life? Is he not there for you? Will he not see to everything? I wonder how many of us have this kind of faith. But this is what Jesus is telling us today. It is not for us to worry about our material and physical needs, nor even about our spiritual ones. Our Father will look after all these, Jesus says. All you have to do, he says, is search for him with all your strength and practice the justice that he loves. You must live for him with everything that you are. Have you the wisdom to do this and the courage to relax in his arms?
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