Matthew under the arm 86
Between his feet, he was making marks on the dust on the path. We had stopped for a drink of water and an apple. I looked closer and it seemed as if there were about 50 or 60 marks he had made on the ground. 'What are they for? Some game?' Columba turned and smiled. (So irritating!) 'Close your eyes. I need your help.' So I did. He then gently and quietly went through names of people carefully. 'Just have the name resonating in your heart as I say them. Radiate love in Christ through the name!' When he had finished, I opened my eyes and Columba had crossed out all the marks. 'Who were they?' 'The people we have met on the pilgrimage, of course.' 'And you remembered all of them?' 'Well, perhaps I got one or two of them wrong.... But no matter, as I crossed out the marks on the dust, you prayed with your eyes closed. Thank you!' I frowned. He dug me in the ribs with his elbow. 'Come on or we'll be late.'
Matthew 18:12-14….
If I lose something precious, its importance is in how it reflects on the image of myself. Losing something often means I have lost control over that image. So the rejoicing of the shepherd is about the interior relief and not so much about the sheep itself. That’s not as self-absorbed as it might appear. The point is the lost sheep has become very much part of the identity of the shepherd. If it wasn’t, he possibly wouldn’t care as much. This passage is about Jesus’ identity, which is entirely wrapped up in others – particularly the vulnerable.
Let your personality be infused with My Life in your service of the vulnerable
When praying for those you know who are fragile for any reason, be aware of your own desire for them. This can so easily become a means of advancing your own needs, strengths and possessiveness. Not that your needs and strengths are not important.... Lack of awareness of the desires around them, can get in the way. Imagine Christ to be with you – in whatever imagery or feelings help you – use the sentence to be with Him. Christ’s ‘ownership ‘of the vulnerable is paradoxically about freedom and release. In your local community, if Christ were to come (in your imagination) in his humanity again, where and to whom would you take him? Who is lost? Following your answer to these, you may be opened to the reality that you are His coming!
+Martin
Argyll and The Isles
Matthew 18:12-14….
If I lose something precious, its importance is in how it reflects on the image of myself. Losing something often means I have lost control over that image. So the rejoicing of the shepherd is about the interior relief and not so much about the sheep itself. That’s not as self-absorbed as it might appear. The point is the lost sheep has become very much part of the identity of the shepherd. If it wasn’t, he possibly wouldn’t care as much. This passage is about Jesus’ identity, which is entirely wrapped up in others – particularly the vulnerable.
Let your personality be infused with My Life in your service of the vulnerable
When praying for those you know who are fragile for any reason, be aware of your own desire for them. This can so easily become a means of advancing your own needs, strengths and possessiveness. Not that your needs and strengths are not important.... Lack of awareness of the desires around them, can get in the way. Imagine Christ to be with you – in whatever imagery or feelings help you – use the sentence to be with Him. Christ’s ‘ownership ‘of the vulnerable is paradoxically about freedom and release. In your local community, if Christ were to come (in your imagination) in his humanity again, where and to whom would you take him? Who is lost? Following your answer to these, you may be opened to the reality that you are His coming!
+Martin
Argyll and The Isles
Labels: Intercession
posted by Martin at 7:52 pm
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