Joy

So he spoke this parable to them: ‘A man had two sons...."
Lk.15:3,11

Jesus is addressing the Pharisees and the scribes who are complaining that he is seeking the company of sinners. He tells them three parables, of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. The three parables each highlight a virtue that the scribes and Pharisees lack... Joy!

The joy of recovering the lost sheep made the abandoning the ninety-nine worth the risk. The joy of recovering the lost coin made the expense of spending many times its value to celebrate, worth it. The joy of the dead, lost son coming back home made sense of the father's blind extravagance in celebrating his return.

If I don't have joy in my life something is seriously missing in my Christian walk. Joy can't be forced, it is always spontaneous. It comes from a heart that is focused on others and their well-being. Today may I be a person focused on others and a person of joy.

Jesus, you role model what it is to be truly joyful as you came to seek the lost, you came to seek me. Help me be a person of joy today.
Little Flower please pray for me.

Come See

Jesus noticed a tax collector, Levi by name, sitting by the customs house, and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And leaving everything he got up and followed him. In his honour Levi held a great reception in his house, and with them at table was a large gathering of tax collectors and others.
Lk.5:27-29

Jesus calls Levi from out from the very midst of his sinfulness, extortion of unjust taxes. Levi's response is immediate. He turns his back on his sin and follows Jesus. To celebrate his new life, Levi hosts a party honoring Jesus and who does he invite? His immediate friends who are engaged in the same sinful actions.

This story telling of the the call of Matthew always resonates with me. Maybe it's because my son is named after the apostle and our parish is named Saint Matthew's. But it evokes even more. I identify with Matthew the sinner and his conversion. I guess the event reminds me that Jesus specifically came for people like me and that conversion is always, always, always possible. No one is a lost cause.

Matthew's response is challenging. He called those immediately around him to come and meet the one who was the source of his new life.  I can do the same, today.

Thank you Lord for this new day in which to introduce people to you.
Little Flower please pray for me.

Jesus... Quiet... Rest

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
Mk.6:31

The twelve Apostles have just returned from their first mission trip and report to Jesus the great successes they had experienced. Jesus notes their physical exhaustion and offers an antidote: himself, quiet and rest.

If a word was used to describe 21st century first-world life, it would frenetic. I find it harder and harder to relax. Even when waking in bed in the morning my first thoughts tend to be, "what should I be doing today". I've just watched our neighbour pull out of her driveway and drive off. As her car accelerated away she was still doing up her seat belt. It's as if she needed to be doing two things at once to keep up with her day.

This hectic, feverish life-pace is like a vortex sucking forever further in on itself. The antidote? Jesus... quiet... rest.

Thank you Lord for this quiet time with you this morning. Help me carry this peace into my day.
Little Flower, please pray for me.