Walking in the Footsteps of Christ – Day 24 Tuesday after 4th Sunday of Lent A Lenten Journey with the Rule of the Third Order of the Society of St Francis These Reflections which take the Rule of the Third Order as their springboard, were originally published in Lent 2012 are being republished during Easter… Continue reading Walking in the Footsteps of Christ – Day 24
If we limit the voice of God to the words of the Bible we become deaf to God’s action in the world around us and cannot see God’s hand at work in the Scientist’s laboratory, the Doctor’s surgery, or the Politicians manifesto.
If we set out on a journey to hear the Voice of God one of the first steps must be to pick up the words God has spoken down the years to faithful people all over the world.
At a time when we are not allowed to travel, our common life has been diminished, and truth changes with the daily newspaper headlines, we need to discover once more what it means to know Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life
Lockdown, locked-up, or enfolded?
There are so many voices to confuse us yet if we shut them all out we are even more isolated.
What if we transformed this lockdown into the gift of being safely enfolded with the Good Shepherd when we can listen intently to His words of love and comfort.
The Rule of St Francis was revolutionary in that it took the words of Jesus seriously and they sought to live ‘sine proprio’ without possessions. We however live with them and must be careful how we use them for fear that they may use us.
There is a world of difference between heartburn and our hearts ‘burning’ within us.
One is to do with over-indulgence and greed, the other demands we get even more involved in the process of giving our lives and our hearts away
In following Christ there is no room for prejudice or discrimination against any who are ‘different’ in any way.
As the Sunday School song reminds us ‘All are precious in his sight’ and so everyone must be precious to us as well
If we are honest we cannot ‘make’ anybody into a disciple of Christ, that is the work of the Holy Spirit. All we can do is to live lives that are so transformed by the Gospel of Christ that people want something of what we have.
Telling other people our beliefs is not easy, and when we do we need to do so with love and care but it is a task that must be done or how else will people know who we are?
Suffolk Vicar 