Spirit & Life

“Mary is rich in so many ways – love of life, full of hope, with a deep faith and intellectual achievement. She supports so many, and shares these gifts with all whom she meets.”

A pertinent reminder, at this Time of Mourning and Sorry Business. We are called to pray for all people and all communities, beyond culture, age, and social situations.

You can’t get a much more marginalised group of ‘listeners’ – outcasts who were literally outside the gates of family homes, enclosures and town walls; tax collectors who were ostracised by the two communities of those whom they worked for, and those who were their kin. Jesus’ parable offers them a place of respect, purpose and abiding love in God’s realm.

What a shock! How does this fit with the God of love, having life and living it abundantly, honouring your mother and father, and loving your neighbour? How do we hear this as a follower of Jesus? If we focused on Jesus’ teaching and call to us, where would be our focus? What would we value most? What does it mean within our family of God?

We all want a place at the table. To have the place that is near the most honoured person in the room, is a wonderful thing! To have a place at all, is an even greater gift.

When our focus is on Church rules, rationale and regulations, we often forget the real person, the intentional reason and the relevancy of why the rules were developed in the first place.

ENJOY reading the texts, that travel across many generations – the metaphor, Jesus’ passionate teaching and the epistle are worth contemplating as a whole. Together, they are provocative, enlightening and humbling.

Being ready for a holiday takes a lot of planning, thinking, and booking of places to stay, let alone packing. We had even prepared an itinerary of precise locations to stay at, on particular days, checking when specific activities and points of interest were open.

The Book of Hosea shows the length that he was willing to go to demonstrate His Love even when they would turn from Him and run as far away as they could.

Life is full of journeys. There are journeys we make for business, others for duty, some for love, and others for adventure. Sometimes the way is easy and filled with companionship; at others, it is difficult and lonely.