At the Crossroads - Week of Prayer 6

            WEEK OF PRAYER #6                  God’ s call to me

The common thread in all these readings is the encounter between God and us and our current disposition

Day One  - the call of Bartimaeus

Jericho is at a crossroads - it is a crossroads in Jesus journey that will lead him up to Jerusalem. It is a last meeting place before the half-day’s journey to Jerusalem on foot.

Beggars, like Bartimaeus, always go to where there is a heightened human interaction, and especially, we feel, at places of worship

There is a unique – a once in a lifetime – opportunity too for Bartimaeus - and so he is at a crossroads in his life. Jesus is passing by, it is now or never.

Bartimaeus’ heightened sense of hearing makes him keenly aware – it is in hearing that ultimately he uses his other faculties – his sense of speech in crying out to Jesus in prayer, then - oblivious to the crowd, listening for Jesus’ response, then, jumping up - using his arms to throw aside the cloak, using his legs to walk to Jesus. While he is blind, he sees Jesus with the eyes of faith – ‘Son of David’.

He shouts: above the crowd, to be heard, he is persistent, and because he pleads for pity, he is the model of prayer for us, to persevere above discouragement and peer pressure to be people who pray ‘without ceasing’.

The crowd also change their attitude once they hear Jesus’ invitation extended to Bartimaeus – and become a congregation, a community – encouraging him – and then he too becomes a follower – one of them and joins them as a fellow disciple on the journey.

The words of Jesus: What do you want me to do for you? How do they apply to you and me today?

Where are we blind – through pride – or too proud to change? What have we overlooked? Why do we refuse to change for the better? Why is it so hard for us to get rid of long ingrained bad habits? Why are we so quick to see the faults in others and so slow – with our ‘blind spots’ to see the work we have to do in order to become the best version of ourselves?

What do you want me to do for you?

Bartimaeus throws off his cloak.

What does this cloak symbolise? Comfort, security, all his worldly possessions, a hindrance?  Whatever it may be – some things likewise prevent me from total surrender to God’s will for me.

Let me see again. So this was man who lost his sight and wants it restored. Why does Jesus ask the question when it is so obvious what the man needs? The man must verbalise his needs – as must we in prayer.

Let me see again. May we see again with renewed minds and hearts and persistent prayer asking the Lord what needs to be done, what changes must be made in our lives. May we enter his kingdom whole and entire, lacking nothing.

‘Immediately’ his sight returns. In Mark there is a sense of urgency as the word ‘immediately’ is used 40 times. Let us change now. Let us be unimpeded followers.

Day Two

NOW

No Other Way but this

No Other Who but you

No Other When but now

No Other Where but here

Jeremiah

I was stuck by the word NOW -its urgency, immediacy, perhaps it was a literary device, a description of something that happened – we use the word NOW to denote a present description – narrating something without interruption – a here and now moment – 'now, well, let me tell you what happened', 'we have cleared the decks', 'there is nothing that remains to be done' – 'the present moment' , 'listen to this.' 

There is a newness and a nearness to God speaking and acting when we hear the word now in the Scriptures – now it is the Lord who speaks, now is the time the Lord is acting – we must listen attentively

'The Word of the Lord came to me' is a phrase we se repeatedly in the Bible - to a congregation, to each person, to every place – and now to me!

Do I accept, absorb, assimilate, act? 

Appointed – do not be afraid

Others, the unknown, unpopularity, being misunderstood, persecution, rejection, isolation, being ridiculed, being ostracised?

Jeremiah is being given a specific mission – God knows him from the womb – the dignity and value of the unborn – that lovely bumper sticker

At this point of the retreat we may be unsure of what this retreat bringing about in us – it is about being open and ready

It is about holding back form making a definitive decision just yet - but it is about BEING AWARE OF WHAT IS EMERGING FOR YOU IN PRAYER

That this retreat us about me - each listener must be open to discerning what God is doing and saying

Day Three and Day Four

Jeremiah 29:11-14

‘’For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call on me and come to pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you says the Lord and will restore all your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you says the Lord,  and I will bring you back to the place form which I sent you into exile.’’

What strikes me about this passage is the intimacy and nearness of the Lord, the effort required of us, tenacity and perseverance, the ‘all’ required of us.

A future and a hope – even when all seem bleak indeed with the culture of death and so many people seem indifferent and oblivious to where society is heading and where their own salvation may be in jeopardy

My plans for you

We look back and see God’s plan and how it has unfolded – He always knew! And yet it is still unfolding

Our attitude at this point must be that of an openness to what God has to say know with a sense of totality – willing and open to the possibility that what God has to say – if you like the climax of the retreat – what is to be found, what the answer is – may well be this week (or any given week). Maybe things are beginning to become a little bit clearer at his early stage!

The satisfaction that the Lord will allow Himself to be found by us as if waiting for us to be found like hide and seek.  

Day Five

Luke 5:1-11

Jesus calls the first disciples

Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord

The Lord keeps calling me – it was not a one off and I am still a sinner – I have committed many sons even since that first calling. I have been foolish, reckless, foolhardy, proud, brash, and am guilty of repeated falls of the same kind – yet I am still called. It is the midst of my realisation of my sinfulness that I am called again to be a fisher of men and a feeder of sheep. It is the knowledge and admission – humiliating as it is – that the Lord is at were happy with this – I can work with this – I can work with you on these terms – because now you know its not about you! You can see how well / badly you got on in your own! Now you come back to me honest humble and in my eyes ready! It is a very strange business indeed!

Day Six

John 1: 35-39

What do you seek?

Where do you live?

Come and see

They stayed with them that day as it was about the tenth hour

The time John fell in love with Jesus

Pre-marriage couples

How long have you known each other – when did the courtship begin? Usually the woman knows more detail! Oh, it was on such and such a date – we were at such a place – he was wearing…, I was wearing… a friend introduced us, had an inkling we would be compatible,  – incredible detail – or an act of kindness, a joke shared, a walking to the door in the rain, a kind remark, a shared interest, sincerity, a smile…falling in love

When did you know your vocation was to marry this person? What helped you decide?

Vocation to priesthood and religious life? Day, time hour place, a sudden realisation, a growing realisation?  I remember the date and the hour  a yes, a dawning, a free decision – it was completely up to me. I was never freer, it was clear too that it was my decision, I was aware of the seriousness. It was mysteriously personal and intimate and important, and all these things and I felt I was on a threshold – and I said yes. The freedom and the relief and the joy and the certainty of knowing – above all the peace.  I just knew.

We are all called to discipleship in virtue of our baptism!

What do you seek – come and see

The remainder of the retreat includes these sentiments, to come and see, to seek and to find, to see where the Lord is, to follow Him where He leads us.

These six preliminary weeks of prayer are at an end.

We have passed through the landmark of the Principle and Foundation

We have unearthed some common threads, some features of our prayer life, we have noted the graces, noted the significant things , listened and learned from each other – and now we are ready to enter the FIRST WEEK.