Matthew under the arm 54

News came to us this morning just before we set out walking, that fighting had broken out in a neighbouring country. Refugees were making their way across the border. There was a real fear that the fighting would spread. Columba listened to the person carrying the news with close attention. I turned away with my heart pounding. Frankly, I was terrified. However, I was too ashamed to show it to any one, including Columba! He found me in a little church on the outskirts of the village. There I was kneeling, trying to pray and all I could feel was the terror at the pit of my stomach and a sense of shame. There was no point in hiding any more. So I told Columba of my fear and my shame. 'Why shame?' he asked. I replied with a low and quivering voice, 'Your first thought was for the refugees and those who would be injured or killed. Mine was for myself: would the fighting spread onto the pilgrimage? Would I be at risk? Would panic break out - including in me? I am worrying about myself.' So he asked me to name ALL my fears in this situation to him. I put my head against his shoulder at the back of the church and wept like a 6 year old child.... Was this the shoulder of Christ?

Matthew 12:43-45….

Most people in our culture have difficulty with belief in external spiritual entities such as demons, angels etc… Therefore, it would be all too easy to overlook the vital spiritual significance of this passage. Artists frequently talk about ‘muses’ that inspire and ‘the black that dog’ (Winston Churchill) that depresses and kills inspiration. One way of looking at the passage (but, by no means, the only one!) is to see ourselves with internal 'sub-personalities' that we can allow to have too much control over us – internalised ‘voices’ from our development – fear, power, deception etc… Protecting ourselves from the power of these is one of the tasks of spirituality.


That my inner life may be strengthened for the service of others



One of the ways of protecting yourself from the power of 'sub-personalities' from your own history (the ones that we might call 'demons' - that have a destructive quality to them) is to accept them and understand them, for example, the 'little boy or girl' afraid from an experience of childhood that still can control some of your responses. Affection can heal and even use the memory creatively. If these ‘elements’ are not accepted they can grip you and dictate your responses in ways that you do not realise. Worse they can become destructive in others lives. Use the sentence to all the Spirit of God to strengthen your inner life and be free of the power of the forces that memories can release.

+Martin

Argyll and The Isles