Matthew under the arm 4
Not everyone finds it necessary, but it is worth considering having someone accompanying you in your spiritual life. There has been a great deal written and spoken about this subject. However, I am often asked what are the qualities that a Spiritual Director or someone who accompanies you in your prayer life. Simple really. 1) That person will have a deep and committed life of prayer themselves. 2) They will have profound listening skills while having the skill to challenge. Friendship is an important element. 3) That person will understand the importance of belonging to a Christian community in which and from which the spiritual life is offered and lived.
Anyway back to Matthew:
Take a break from the road and let Columba look over your shoulder as you read and pray.
Matthew 2:13-18
If the child Jesus was not taken to Egypt, maybe his ‘crucifixion’ would have arrived somewhat earlier. The countless ‘innocents’ would not, on the other hand, have been slaughtered. At what price, Christ’s survival? However, the apostles (the disciples who became witnesses to the Resurrection of Christ) also lost their lives in brutal circumstances. (See W H Auden's 'The Twelve') Hard though it is, we are asked to focus on Jesus Christ in the middle of those circumstances. It is he who makes God’s Way through history including hell itself. The child’s parents were asked to wait in Egypt until the guidance of God became clear. Those who follow Christ rooted in their prayer are such as the parents of Christ: people of hope, who have the courage to wait, despite apparent hopeless.
Grant me obedience and determination to wait on Your Will being awakened within me
One of the greatest difficulties in prayer is to be weighed down by a sense of hopelessness – a kind of depression that would suggest that praying is a waste of energy, let alone time. This sentence is created from the Gospel passage to ask that you be obedient to Christ because of the circumstances of his life. Therefore your circumstances, no matter how dark they may be, are where Christ is. In fact, it may be in the middle of the darkness that God in Christ slowly makes His Will known deep within you.
+Martin
Argyll and The Isles
Anyway back to Matthew:
Take a break from the road and let Columba look over your shoulder as you read and pray.
Matthew 2:13-18
If the child Jesus was not taken to Egypt, maybe his ‘crucifixion’ would have arrived somewhat earlier. The countless ‘innocents’ would not, on the other hand, have been slaughtered. At what price, Christ’s survival? However, the apostles (the disciples who became witnesses to the Resurrection of Christ) also lost their lives in brutal circumstances. (See W H Auden's 'The Twelve') Hard though it is, we are asked to focus on Jesus Christ in the middle of those circumstances. It is he who makes God’s Way through history including hell itself. The child’s parents were asked to wait in Egypt until the guidance of God became clear. Those who follow Christ rooted in their prayer are such as the parents of Christ: people of hope, who have the courage to wait, despite apparent hopeless.
Grant me obedience and determination to wait on Your Will being awakened within me
One of the greatest difficulties in prayer is to be weighed down by a sense of hopelessness – a kind of depression that would suggest that praying is a waste of energy, let alone time. This sentence is created from the Gospel passage to ask that you be obedient to Christ because of the circumstances of his life. Therefore your circumstances, no matter how dark they may be, are where Christ is. In fact, it may be in the middle of the darkness that God in Christ slowly makes His Will known deep within you.
+Martin
Argyll and The Isles
posted by Martin at 6:03 pm
2 Comments:
Very encouraging especially while we are being persecuted mostly by a 'church' that doesn't know Christ as Lord.
It is right for a Christian to be as cynical as a serpent,
but it is also right for a Christian to have the grace of a dove.
I would expect the church to be beset by difficulties and controversies (as it always has been) but we should not let this blind us to the grace to the faith to the wonder that there is a Christian church alive and well in this world. Maybe like a dove we need to take to the wing and see a more overall view of the church rather than getting bogged down by local or denominational problems.
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