The other Tuesday morning at the Mass with the young people – mainly from our High School – I found myself saying to them, something that is true for all Christian people who follow the Master – something that I firmly believe – but something that is also a great challenge; “These things we read in the Gospel happen in our lives today. I look forward to you pupils telling me what Jesus has done in the events of your lives too”. The Gospel that day was Mark 5: 21-43, and it tells of Jesus and the Synagogue official whose daughter was desperately sick.  Sadly, she later died. Her father wanted Jesus to cure her – as we know he then did, bringing her back from the dead.

Talitha Kum (Aramaic for ‘Little Girl Arise’)

 The Gospel also includes the cure of the lady, who had had a haemorrhage for 12 years; she touched his cloak, in the dense crowd around him, when he was on his way to perform the cure.

 In a way this puts me ‘on the spot’, however, because it makes me realise that there is a duty not to put burdens on others peoples’ shoulders, but to carry them oneself. So what has happened in my life that brings both ‘Healing’ and even ‘Resurrection’? If I can point to such things, then the Gospel message makes sense, and Jesus becomes a real person at my side: i.e. LOVE in me has grown, and it extends both to me, and to others.

 Following the news on the Internet, watching even shows on TV, listening to most radio programmes does not leave me with much sense of satisfaction. The exceptions, for me, would be some music that touches my heart, or even occasionally, sport. Recently, there was a three-part serial called ‘The Blackheath Murders’ on TV and on the ‘iplayer’. I watched them all. You see, my parents used to live in Blackheath, and I spent many a holiday between 1965 and 1995, in this lovely London village, situated in South East London, (SE3). My parents are buried at the local cemetery at Charlton, and so, the title fascinated me; it was good to have an occasional view of the large London houses on the edge of the Heath, now all turned into flats and bed-sits, but externally, still showing the magnificent detached Georgian buildings of the past; also the wonderful Anglican Church of ‘All Saints on the Heath’ that fits in so well, with its light grey stone, and proportioned tower, on the grassy expanse of Blackheath.

All Saints Church, Blackheath

 Curiosity kept me watching – just to find out who the murderer was, and when all was revealed – well the ending was, really, rather banal. I did not feel much the better after it.

 However reading a wonderful book for meditation entitled, ‘Your Word is Fire’, which displays in its first pages the wonderful power of God’s Word, and enables me, therefore, to enter the life of God, that is enclosed in the Word of God, in human terms, has left me feeling ever more in awe of God, his grandeur and his beauty.

An Image of the Fire of God’s Love

The book has been so good for me that it has become an idea to try to translate it, for it is written in Italian.  That would be a ‘Work of Love’, for then others may benefit from it, as I have done. However, it very pointedly makes me realise that effective prayer, that for me is linked nearly always to ‘lectio divina’, is a very good way to ‘Feel and Know Love, i.e. Jesus’. It is not a cure for the difficulties of life that inevitably do, and will, arise; it does, however, give an understanding about the ‘why’ and the ‘how’, to be self-disciplined, patient, humorous, loving and kind, in the face of all that life throws at me. The lesson for me is that effective prayer helps one to have the relationship of faith and trust, that the Synagogue official, and the woman with the haemorrhage, both had for Jesus. He then works his miracles in us.

What follows describes a tiny experience for which I thank God; it involves a specific event, but it also includes a change of mentality, a change that may seem small, but it has taken years to develop. The event in question was something so very simple. I was in our kitchen when I heard one of my companions ‘groaning’: quite by accident, he had tipped a pile of ‘muesli’ on the floor, from the packet and the little pieces were everywhere. Without much ado, it was easy to fetch the ‘Ewbank’ carpet sweeper, and in 10 minutes or so, to clean it all up.

The ‘Ewbank’ carpet sweeper

My colleague, Fr. Peter, simply sat down and ate his breakfast: he had a train to catch in 30 minutes from Leyland Station, and, knowing the relationship we have, he knew that I was happy and content to do the small task for him; and indeed, I was. On the ‘face of it’, this simple act was nothing more than that of helping a good friend – a friend with whom I have a pact to try to live each day, united in the name of Jesus, so that He will always be among us and within each of us – the deeper meaning! (cf Mt. 18: 20) There was no fuss, no bother; Fr. Peter felt good, and so did I, as all was cleared up off the carpet.

However, this simple episode marks a change of attitude – one ‘miles away’ from the fact that, for many years, I used to get very angry when such accidents occurred, and thoughts that said; “Clumsy oaf; let the person responsible clear it up, why doesn’t he / she take more care?” That would have been my reaction, at one time, stemming from my young days when that would have been the normal reaction, in our family – and not just ‘ours’, but many others, I would suggest. Seeing others react in this way, it had ‘rubbed off’ on me!

But, over years of living with people who were, in this regard, much more loving and tolerant, and then having contact with mothers, who are, forever, clearing up the messes of their children, I acquired a much better loving attitude to such circumstances – to such accidents. The change took a long time, something that makes me realise that it is untrue when people say, “Father, I cannot help my addiction, or my mistakes, because of this, or that happening to me when I was young”. We can be masters of our own lives, rather than ‘programmed’ beings, if we make decisions supported by God’s immense love. We can overcome our limitations, our sinful tendencies. We can let God and his Love live in us – another way of knowing Jesus – another way of knowing that the Gospel is real.

The way to effect the change, in me, was to search for companions who want to put Love at the heart of their lives, and with whom each person could learn to overcome the areas in their lives, that were dead and in need of healing. In addition, God may grant another grace: he may bring you to such openness, together, that you agree to live the new commandment of Jesus, which is the key to enjoying the UNITY that guarantees the presence of Jesus, LOVE –  among you and within you, (Mt 18: 20). Then Jesus becomes real, and you will know and be able to share, what Jesus has done in the events of your lives.

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