Paul's Reflections 12th Sunday Ordinary Time C. 20th June, 2010 .

20th June, 2010      12th Sunday Ordinary Time C

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There is a really beautiful line in the first reading….  It is striking and wonderful……….   “I shall pour out (upon the people)  a spirit of kindness and prayer…..”    (or…..  as another translation says…  “compassion and supplication.”      Or as yet another version says,….  “I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer”…..   and repentance…. “  It is a reminder that God always takes the initiative…   and has created within us a new “interior attitude” of attentiveness to God, of graciousness.. pleasant-ness…. And forgiveness …….  Which others can sense and to which they are inspired to respond positively.

Continuing on from what I was saying last week….  Our prayer must include contemplation upon the person and message of Jesus…. And this shows in the Gospel today…..   Jesus is in deep, solitude and prayer….  And from within this space of prayer comes his question to his disciples….   Who do people say I am….  Who do you say I am….   Who am I…..  you must know who I am and what I am doing…… 

Once he has made that point… he goes on… who I am.. what I am doing necessarily means the way of the Cross….  Who I am is the one who must walk the way of Calvary… and so must anyone who follows me……

And, as the first reading says…  prayer and compassion and forgiveness must go together… or else its distorted….  Prayer shows us the one who suffers because of the values God has and because of the opposing values of the world that others can have…

The power of Christ’s Cross is a constant challenge to our thinking and understanding….  How can the way of the CROSS be the way to fullness of truth and life……  it seems such a difficult concept to grasp and handle…..

But we believe the path of the Cross is the power and wisdom of God……  

We know by bitter experience… that for some reason God does not remove the crosses that we carry in life…. (God the loving father could not even remove the cross from his own beloved son’s shoulders…..   because it was necessary that he walked this path…………// God does not remove these crosses ,,, but its not because God wants us to suffer… not that suffering can’t be something that threatens to destroy us and destroy our hope…..   /  but what God always does in answer to our crosses… is to pour out his grace and love upon us….   To transform what we are experiencing ..  (by God’s faithfulnes and love)… to assure us that God is there with us .. especially in times of suffering and trial….   

Jesus’  message of the Cross reminds us that “God has a vivid memory for the least and most forgotten people.” – the people at their lowest…  those who are bowed down…..

God is wanting to affirm life and  be faithful to us especially when poverty, violence or tragedy are sowing death.”  

IF God does not appear to stop some of the tragedies and suffering and crosses in life, God certainly takes away the final meaning of these events and changes them into opportunity for grace, compassion and abiding love……… [Jesus said,]

Someone once wrote that

"God uses broken things….//

It takes broken soil to produce a crop,

broken clouds to give rain,

broken grain to give bread,

broken bread to give strength.

It is a broken alabaster jar

that gives forth perfume....

It is Peter weeping bitterly,

who returns to greater power."

True spiritual strength

lies not in holding on to things

but in letting go of them. (Writer: Vance Havner)

Only by "letting go and letting God"

can we open ourselves

to a greater power than our own.

The paradox of Christianity is, indeed,

we are strongest when we are weakest. Even if this is so challenging to know and understand.

May the Lord give us the courage to let go and give GOD total control of my life.  This does not mean we lose responsibility of our lives and actions and choices….  We still need to cooperate, but we become a willing sailing boat… open to the direction the Spirit leads us to …filling our sails and guiding us where God wants….  

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REFERENCES:

FR. PAUL W. KELLY

MISSION 2000  – PRAYING SCRIPTURE IN A CONTEMPORARY WAY. YEAR C. BY MARK LINK S.J.

SHARING THE WORD THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR. GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ.