Sunday 13 August 2023 (’05): 19thSUNinORDINARY : A
1. 1K19:9, 10-13a! (What about v10? &Especially vv13b-18?)
In what ways is ‘Yahweh’ active in the politico-religious aspects of IrishSociety?
2. PS84:9-14!
‘MercyWholenessFaithfulnessJustice’! How actively embodied in my local church?
3. ROM9:1-15!
Down the centuries, has TheChurch been eager or reluctant to ‘help’ TheJewishPeople?
4. MT14:22-33!
What 5Circumstances in IrishSociety unnerve me, &drag me down?
‘Man of little faith’, He said to me, out on the waves, as wind howled like a roaring lion about us! &Whatever pinch of faith I did have, in all my days&nights on TheLake in the worst of conditions, I had never been tested&found-wanting as on that evening! I loved&respected the sea, even its moody turns, but always I was very wary of the wind : very capricious&cunning, rather like that lion stalking me with implacable&ghastly intent! I know TheTeacher often compares Heaven’sBreath to the marvellous freedom&everywhereness of the wind, but this just serves to make me wonder… Is it Heaven’sBreath itself I’m really wary of? Did it seduce me to step out of the safety of the boat onto the waves, only to make it clear to all, how flimsy in a real crisis my trust was? &To whisper urgently, ‘Kephas! What will you do to increase&deepen your meagre pinch of faith? In case one day TheTeacher is not there to reach out & hold you safe, &you founder in the waves beyond recovery?’ Humbly I must admit this likelihood, but what can I do? who can I share my dilemma with? Perhaps HeHimself will mention it privately, &give me a special blessing! I really haven’t the courage to say it for myself! Oh, am I just doomed to be a failure? But the other day, when we landed safely, Madgalene said this, ‘Remember, Kephas! Not the wind! Trust your own breath, &’twill bring you safe through every dark…!’
Reflections and comments can be emailed to adbi@chokmah.ie