Matthew under the arm 121

As I looked at Columba last night before we slept, his eyes seemed sunken not so much with the strenuous walking of the day, but with something much deeper than that, that I couldn't quite understand. He understood my look. 'Do you know what has tired me most? It has been carrying in my heart on this pilgrimage those for whom I have been asked to pray. I feel, for example, a powerlessness in praying for two factions in these lands who have been at war with each other for decades and there is no prospect of peace. There is the aweful sense of Christ's Gospel demand that the Church is one in Christ, and yet the anomosity and suspicion are deep within the Body of Christ.' As he crept into his bunk, he was weeping and hoping I hadn't noticed. I realised that here was the Intercession of Christ lived out in this holy man. In some strange way, he is a sign of hope. His holiness is a judgement on my resentments and divisions. 'The End' of all things will surely be marked by such love.


Matthew 25:31-46….
In the Hebrew Scriptures, the development of a concept of 'the end of all things' comes through the experience of suffering and catastrophic events. This language suggests the way God was communicating with his people; ‘judging’ his people now. The focus of this development in the Hebrew Scriptures is often on a single figure: The ‘Son of man’ - of huge moral and spiritual stature, who would suffer at the hands of distorted humanity and judge humanity at the ‘end’. As the title suggests, although there was an exalted tone to it, nevertheless there is a sense in the texts that the Son of Man is also a representational figure. Therefore, I am deeply caught up in the movement towards the end now. Matthew’s Gospel makes the connection between Jesus and the ‘Son of man’ image. It is also a call to waken up to the urgent need to change life-style as a preparation for the ‘end’, because as the Son of man is identified with Jesus then the end is not far away. Indeed, that end' in breaking-in now.The Passion and Resurrection of Christ is the exposure of the very presence of the Son of man.


Be still and know the freeing power of My Wisdom within you



The rise of anxiety over the ecology of the planet, the delicacy of global economics, coupled with the threat of nuclear or bio-chemical warfare has raised awareness of ‘ends’. However, the Gospel summons you to be awake to this moment as an ‘end’. After all, your own death could happen at any moment. So in this exercise, imagine your own death, but only do so if you have someone with which you can share the exercise. What happens a few moments before your death and what happens to you afterwards: to your body, to your belongings, to those you love. Repeat the same, but move down say 10 years or 20 or 40 and so on. Using the sentence after this exercise is a powerful experience of waking up to this moment!

+Martin
Argyll and The Isles

Matthew under the arm 120

For most of today, a young boy joined us. His Mother and Father were walking well behind. The boy had heard that I could sing and wanted to accompany me on his flute as we walked along. However, I shrugged off the suggestion and said that he was too good for me and that I would spoil his playing. Undoubtedly, he was talented. Columba sang, however....out of tune and with the most dreadful tone! Soon, we were joined by about 20 people laughing and singing. I became more and more resentful and ashamed. So I dropped out and hung behind them all. That night Columba told me a story from Matthew.....

Matthew 25:14-30….
The most important part of this parable is where the third servant hid the talent given him… ‘so I was afraid.’ Remember that parables only make a single point. Our attention is often drawn away from the single-hearted focus of our life: namely on the Kingdom of God, not to be identified with human psychology or power structures. Fear demonstrates the power we have given to others. In turn, the decisions we make are to placate or even to appease. We become more interested in pleasing those in power rather than God.


Let me be aware of the gifts you have given me and so offer them to Your service


Read the passage carefully and slowly several times. Then imagine that Jesus is telling you the story. He is with you now. What do you do in your daily life to focus on the will of God for you and what do you do to please others out of fear? Write down your reactions to this question. Write down the gifts you have and then use the sentence. Imagine you have your gifts in the palms of your hands, given to you to use. Note your feelings.

+Martin
Argyll and The Isles

Matthew under the arm 119

Yesterday afternoon, we couldn't find any inn with a bunk because the whole town was full of wedding guests. However, we were invited to attend the wedding. Outside the church, in the square there was wonderful food and dancing. Eventually, the bride came across Columba and I sitting on the wall surrounding the village fountain. She saw Columba's 'Gospel of Matthew' sticking out of his coat pocket. "What do you carry that for?" she asked almost cheekily. "Well, for the same reason as you might carry it with you everywhere. Christ is summoning you to live like him in your marriage. He loved weddings, remember. In marriage, you can learn to be a servant and to suffer on behalf of the one you love. This will lead you to be a servant and to carry the suffering of many."

Matthew 25:1-12….
In the Old Testament, the prophets guided the Hebrews to see that God’s judgement and his love were behind even the catastrophic events of their history. Messiah – a servant 'leader' - would lead the people to a new way of being in faith to God – through suffering and service. Jesus was the realisation of that hope. And so, with Jesus there would always be endings, which would be part of God’s creation and recreation history. Hence in Matthew the importance of readiness for the presence of Christ. The story about the wedding attendant locked into a tradition that living in union with God would be like a wedding banquet: the intensification of loving, serving relationships in the context of delight.

Let the Hope of bringing you into Union with Me, enrich your heart for serving Me in each moment

Despite the fact that many marriages do not work out, nevertheless the hope that they will be symbols of eternity and the delight of union is still strong in the imagination of some. The spirituality of Christianity summons you to be attentive to the potential for union in each moment. The tragedy is that the more awake you are the more you realise how many opportunities you have missed for delight and realising God’s presence. So empathise with the foolish wedding attendants! As you move into silence look at the last 24 hours and become aware of the opportunities that you have used in the most insignificant circumstances. With the sentence, move into the detail and allow God to intensify his Union within you.

+Martin
Argyll and The Isles

Matthew under the arm 118

For some days, a young woman has been walking with Columba for most of the time in silence. It hasn't looked as if Columba has been saying much either. As for me, I have been silent also. However, mine is about having lost my voice through chest problems. My breathing has been difficult, affecting my sleep as well. For mile after mile, the two of them seemed to exchange little but the occasional glance or smile. Yesterday when we stopped for some bread, cheese and some fruit, I turned to her and asked with a rather painful whisper, why she hadn't been saying much to Columba, let alone asking him questions. 'I have been trying to learn from him how to watch and to listen.' 'But, there has been no conversation to listen to', I added in puzzlement. 'Yes, there has been listening to the silence.' What was she talking about!? Columba smiled at me. 'Remember, silence is the gift of God. It is not the absence of sound. It is gift. It comes with the gift of simplicity. And in explaining that to you, I have said too much!'


Matthew 24:37-44….
Jesus was not so much concerned with the actual events of a devastating end to history. The fact that it can happen at any time - ‘momento mori’ - calls for a constant awareness. This calls for simplicity. The speculations of enthusiasts for apocalyptic events also distracts from the crucial issues of ‘this’ moment. There have always been Christians who have lived a life of simplicity; who have followed a vocation, 'an option' to be poor in order to be awake to however the presence of God is to be discerned in ‘this’ moment.


I would have my life simplified by the indwelling Spirit of awareness of Your call to me in each moment


Look around your room now. How encumbered are you by ‘things’? The vocation is to be ready and awake enough to discern God’s presence in your life and the lives of others. What gets in the way of that? Can you do something about it? Seek guidance from a spiritual director of skill otherwise this exercise can be nothing other than a plunge into guilt. On the other hand, you can easily avoid the uncomfortable question. However, some ‘things’ are for sheer enjoyment. They can be means of discerning God’s presence. The issue is whether you are free to have them or not to have them. It is identifying yourself as ‘possessing’ that can be the disease. Use the sentence to deepen this awareness.

+Martin
Argyll and The Isles

Matthew under the arm 117

There he was, on his own, looking out across a rather bleak moorland. It was early in the morning. Columba has taught me the importance of praying in silence early in the day, before its concerns and, sometimes, its intrusions break in. [By the way, he also taught me that these 'intrusions' are also indicators of the movement of God in the heart. So they are not to be dismissed.] This morning his eyes were sunken and he looked anxious. Indeed, that was obvious. He was shaking. Columba? I approached him trying not to startle him. He turned and looked like a desperate child into my eyes. 'I am lost. I simply cannot pray.' 'Why?' I asked gently. 'Because I am constantly confronted by my fear of dying and death - of loneliness. My belief has deserted me, if I ever had it'. Columba! Inwardly, I smiled. Here was holiness indeed!


Matthew 24:29-36….
Three strands of Jewish culture and belief come together. One is the established sense that there would be an ideal man, one who was utterly obedient to God as servant and prophet. The second was a developed sense that the end of all things was not the end for God. All events in creation were God-events, including devastation and suffering. The third strand was that this ‘man’ is effective in bringing healing and love (redemption) even in the course of the ‘end’. Jesus for Christianity became the ultimate focus of these strands: The Son of man.

Let the eyes of your heart be open to my Healing and my Love in all creation and experience

In the face of the news, the suffering of someone you love or maybe your own suffering, it is difficult to discern God’s healing and loving. The stomach tenses. the heart races or the dark clouds of depression gather - or all three. Praying in the middle of these feelings is hard. Maybe you can only last a few moments, if any! It is in these moments that prayer is most important. Don’t concern yourself as to whether you are concentrating or not. Acknowledge briefly that God is to found in all your experiences. Simply use the sentence faithfully throughout the day and you will begin to see God as the one at the heart of all your experiences. That discernment maybe of vital importance to you and to others.

+Martin
Argyll and The Isles

Matthew under the arm 116

After all these months with St Matthew's Gospel, I had begun to feel confident in my understanding of its 'flow' and meaning. Yesterday... Well, let me explain. Two young girls joined us. They were covered in mud and were damp through. However, they were blissfully happy. They asked about myself and about Columba. I then started to wax eloquent on the Gospel of Matthew, that I was carrying. 'I have it in my heart now', I added with sickening sentimentality. So I gave them my take on the new certainty that I had of the Kingdom of God and how they ought to have the same. Columba, who was walking ahead of me, stopped when he heard me. he turned and glowered at me. 'And are you ready to be crucified? Only then claim the Gospel as a certainty. Then God will be the on ly certainty there is and, of that, you will doubt....' Silence. Did he need to embarrass me...?

Matthew 24:15-28….
Religious communication around the first century CE was often fearful and portentous. This was not surprising, given the Roman occupation, the interplay of many religious cultures in the Near East; and then the destruction of Jerusalem in 70CE. Matthew's Gospel was written after that devastating experience. In our own time, when there is uncertainty about our own culture, there are many religious leaders who attract attention to themselves, manipulating the emotions and fears of many. One of the marks of religious proselytism is its certainty. That certainty is often claimed to be basedd on faith in God, when it is often a claim about certainty in the human mind, which is very different indeed. This kind of 'certainty' is inclined to feed off (vultures) the fearful (corpses). Like others, Jesus had a prophetic sense of the terrifying implications of his times, but implored that those who followed him take responsibility for themselves and be constantly prepared for God’s kingdom and not be distracted by the opportunism of fanatics.

Let your heart and mind be awake to My Wisdom

It is important to notice that Jesus did not condemn fear. He frequently exclaimed: ‘Do not be afraid’. Everyone is afraid of something and sometime. Christ was simply acknowledging the power of fear. What matters is to recognise and understand your fears, in that way, very slowly, they will begin to have less power over you. Gradually you will begin to focus on what is really important. You will be les prone to being manipulated by those who know how to manipulate your fears. Begin your meditation by looking at that of which you are afraid. Do not try and get rid of fears or chastise yourself. Move into praying gently with the sentence. Once or twice during the day, when fears rear their heads, use the sentence and just notice how your fears operate in you. Ask God to that your fears may be used for others healing: a preparation for the Kingdom of God.

+Martin
Argyll and The Isles

Matthew under the arm 115

The weather for the last few weeks has, on the whole, been wet and windy. Columba looked pale and tired by mid-morning. So I found an elderly couples little dwelling just off the path. Smoke was rising from the little chimney...a welcoming sight. The old man took us in and gave us some hot water to wash and warm ourselves. His wife produced soup and bread. There by the fire were four other pilgrims. Three of them were watching the fourth with awe. Columba paid little attention. After a while one of them asked Columba: 'Do you know who this is?' Silence. 'Do you not know you are in the presence of a great spiritual teacher? He knows the scriptures and knows what it is to trust in Jesus.' Columba smiled and simply said, 'I'm enjoying my soup. That's my spiritual teacher for now'.
Matthew 24:1-14….
Jerusalem was sacked in 70CE and perhaps the writer of the Gospel was feeding back that experience into Jesus’ sayings. Here we the readers of the Gospel are having our compass bearings readjusted. The Kingdom of God is beyond any temporary civilisation or political system. Fear is engendered when a status quo or ‘our’ life is under threat. By focusing on God’s Kingdom these fears then become redundant. When there is the fear of collapse on any scale, characters emerge in public who claim apocalyptic insights and powers for themselves. Our culture now has a myriad of such personalities particular in the world of 'spirituality' and 'religion' played out in the realms of fantasy and marketing.

Be still and know the Truth of My Kingdom within that frees you from fear.

What makes it difficult for you to 'name' your fears, even to yourself? Do you recognise inclinatons in yourself to shift responsibility for your fears on to something or somebody else? Who do you know that accepts you for who you are and you can speak to about your fears...? When you look at a well-known a Christian leader that you admire, what qualities does he or she have? So in the silence allow your fear to come to the surface, but do so 'in the presence' of the sentence.

+Martin

Argyll and The Isles