Category: Discernment

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Considered choices

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In today’s gospel Jesus warns his disciples to be on their guard against false prophets:

“Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves.”

He calls us to pay attention to the false prophets within ourselves who would draws down personal path that would lead us in ways that are life denying rather than life-giving, however delightful they might appear at the outset. There is also a communal element to this call for discernment as we consider the common good.

There is a cacophony of voices out there telling us what is best for ourselves as individuals and our society as a whole. This can be disconcerting, confusing and overwhelming.

In both cases Jesus’ advice to his disciples can stand us in good stead. Having warned them of the dangers he goes on to offer a solution saying:

“You will be able to tell them by their fruits… A sound tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a rotten tree bear good fruit… I repeat you will be able to tell them by their fruits.”

It seems to me that his words are a call to discernment on both a communal and a personal level. He calls us to pay attention to where we find good or bad fruits in our personal life and in the lives of our communities.

He invites us to think carefully about the choices we make and where they lead us. His words remind me of Deuteronomy’s call to choose life over death.

Where are you being called to turn away from false prophets today?

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United in Christ

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I’m reflecting on St Paul’s letter to the Galatians. His words are a call to unity that has a particular resonance in today’s divided and fragmented world. It seems that wherever we look today we see broken broken relationships and broken communities. There are many voices today that encourage and fuel division, encouraging us to distance ourselves from others.

In challenging times these voices can be beguiling. They call us to draw together with others “like us”, creating divisions between “insiders and outsiders”, between “them and us”. St Paul reminds the Galatians and us that there is no place for such division in the Christian community:

“You are, all of you, children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. All baptised in Christ, you have all clothed yourselves in Christ, and there are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

His words are not a call to uniformity, that would be fairly straightforward. We could create a “Christian model” that everyone has to conform to. We’ve tried that in various forms over the centuries and we know it doesn’t work.

Instead St Paul reminds us that in clothing us in Christ our baptism calls us to seek true unity. It’s a unity that risks allowing diversity to flourish, that acknowledges that diversity can enrich and sustain our unity. The unity baptism calls us to requires us to accept and embrace our differences.

It calls us to maintain our unity in Christ by welcoming those we consider “other” as we would welcome Christ. It requires us to put ourselves aside so we can listen to their stories with open and humble hearts. Baptism calls us to build a unity that delights in our rich diversity as God delights in us.

How are you responding to the unifying call of your baptism today?

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Surrendering control.

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Today’s gospel revisits full of challenge and hope. It revisits Peter’s conversation with Jesus after the resurrection it takes place on a beach, after Peter has had a long and frustrating night’s fishing. An apparent stranger on the beach calls to them to try again. The result is that they end up with a record haul of fish, recognising that the stranger is in fact the risen Christ, who invites them to a breakfast that he himself has cooked.

Today’s gospel focuses on the private conversation that Peter and Jesus have after the meal. Having invited Peter to declare his love and commissioning him to “feed my sheep” Jesus takes the conversation in a new direction. He says to Peter:

“I tell you most solemnly, when you were young you put on your own belt and walked where you liked; but when you grow old you will stretch out your hands, and somebody else will put a belt round you and take you where you would rather not go.”

There is a real challenge in these words for Peter and for us. It’s a reminder that when we commit ourselves to following Christ we surrender control of our lives.

We make that commitment freely and as open heartedly as we can. We might have hopes and dreams of where that will lead us. But the reality is that we can’t know or control what it will actually mean. When Jesus invites us to:

“Follow me.”

he challenges us to step out into the unknown, trusting ourselves to his grace. Moving towards Pentecost it’s worth reflecting on what it means to surrender control to Christ in this way.

Where is the risen Christ challenging you to surrender control of your life to him this Eastertide?

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Held in the heart of Christ.

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The farewell discourse in John’s gospel are full of riches as Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure. Today I’m reflecting on these words:

“I have made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and so that I may be in them.”

They take me back to the heart of our Christian call, to dwell in the love of Christ. It’s a call to intimacy and to openness. At heart it’s a call to allow Christ to love us, to be aware of that love in our lives and to relish it. On the surface that can seem obvious, of course we “know” we are held in the heart of Christ’s love.

In practice the knocks and bumps of daily life very quickly overshadowed that deep reality. Then we forget it, and that leaves us feeling far from Christ and his love. It can leave us feeling frustrated, isolated and unloved. It’s so tempting to give into those feelings especially when life is hard and uncertain.

This is one of the reasons I think we cannot hear these words of Jesus, reminding us of how he loves us, often enough. In these hard, frightening and challenging times we need actively put ourselves in the way of hearing that message as often as possible.

We need to find ways of allowing it to sink into our hearts. We need to let it put down roots and to grow within us so that it becomes impossible for us to forget it, whatever challenges we face in our daily lives.

Where is Christ inviting you to allow his love to shape and transform your life this Eastertide?

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Consecrated in truth

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I’m reflecting truth. We live in times where truth seems to have little value. We talk about a “post-truth” society where it is increasingly difficult to discover whether what we are hearing and seeing is actually true.

There are areas where we can live well enough with subjective views of truth that differ radically from each other. However, there are some areas we need a deeper, more grounded truth even if that means we have to let go of some of our personal theories.

In the first reading St Paul reminds the church at Ephesus to be wary of some of the things that are presented to them as truth:

“Even from your own ranks there will be men coming forward with a travesty of the truth on their lips to induce the disciples to follow them.”

It’s easy and tempting to take things at face value, assuming because we’ve been told it, or read it, or see it on the Internet that it must be true. St Paul’s words remind us that it’s not always easy to discover the truth of things, and that we can be easily led astray. The gospel adds weight to St Paul’s concern with truth as Jesus prays for his disciples:

“Consecrate them in the truth…”

Even in these “post-truth” times we are called to be people of truth. To discover the truth requires some hard work on our part. We have to pay attention to what is going on around us and to the effects it has. We have to listen to what we are being told and to our own instincts. It requires the hard work of learning discernment.

Where is Christ calling you to learn and practice discernment this Eastertide?

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Living in love.

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I’m reflecting on the first letter of St John. We’ve been listening to it throughout Eastertide, now as we move towards Pentecost its message has a particular resonance. St John takes us to the very heart of the gospel, to the relationship of love that both calls and sustains us wherever life leads us. He writes:

“My dear people, since God has loved us so much, we too should love one another. No one has ever seen God; but as long as we love one another God will live in us and God will be complete in us.”

He makes a very clear connection between God’s love for us and our love for one another. The love he speaks of is life changing, life enhancing and challenging. It’s not a love of fine sentiments. It asks us to imitate the faithful love God lavishes on us. It requires commitment and sacrifice. It’s a love that doesn’t give up when it’s hard or painful.

As St Benedict reminds us this love calls us to consider first what is best for the other rather than for ourselves. We have to recommit ourselves daily to this love. Sometimes that proves easier in the big challenges we face than in the small interactions of daily life which can feel so mundane and irritating.

It can feel like such love is beyond our human capacity, and in many ways it is. It is only when we are able to know and accept ourselves as truly and unconditionally loved by God that we find the qualities we need to reach out and offer love to those around us.

As we move towards Pentecost it’s worth remembering that our capacity to love relies on us abiding in God’s love so that we can carry it with us to a world in need.

How are you being called to live in and share God’s love this Eastertide?

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New Horizons.

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All through Eastertide the gospels show us Jesus revealing himself to his disciples. Each revelation begins where the disciples are. It then takes them beyond that into new, uncharted and challenging territory. Jesus starts with their current understanding uses that to lead them to a deeper understanding of who he is.

Today it’s Phillip’s turn. When Jesus tells the disciples:

“If you know me, you know my Father too. From this moment you know him and have seen him.”

Phillip responds:

“Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied.”

Phillip’s response reflects dissatisfaction and desire, he wants more. Jesus doesn’t criticise him for that, instead he offers another, deeper revelation, telling Phillip:

“To have seen me is to have seen the Father…”

Jesus opens Phillip’s heart to the possibility of a new way of seeing God. He offers us the same opportunity. If we allow him to open our hearts, we will discover he is present with us in the midst of human life. We will find him alongside us in the midst of our daily activities, however mundane, frustrating or challenging we might find them. This is a promise full of hope, joy and encouragement.

This new understanding is also a challenge. If we are to discover God’s presence in the midst of daily life, we have to pay attention in a new way. We have to be alert and attentive. We have to risk being open and vulnerable to allow that presence to be revealed, and to respond to it.

As we move through Eastertide where is Christ opening your heart to his presence in our midst?

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Staying with Christ.

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We can easily forget or brush aside the real challenge at the heart of the gospel. Centuries of familiarity and tradition have removed most of the shock that Jesus’ first followers would have felt when they heard his words. Today’s gospel brings us back to just how shocking his teaching was, and still is if we allow ourselves to really hear it. In today’s gospel Jesus has challenged his listeners so much that they say to themselves:

“This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?”

At that point many of them left and stopped following him. Faced with their departure Jesus does nothing to tone his message down. In his conversation with his disciples he even seems to increase the challenge asking them:

“What about you, do you want to go away too?”

He gives the Twelve complete freedom to walk away like the others. Having learned something of his teaching, each of them has to face and answer his question for themselves. It’s the same question that each of us has to face and answer.

Simon Peter’s answer sums up the situation for all of us. Turning the question round he says:

“Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe, we know you are the Holy One of God.”

His response brings us to the heart of our faith. Once we’ve recognised Jesus as the “holy one of God” however challenging it is to walk with him it becomes inconceivable to walk away from him.

What helps you to stay with Christ in this challenging Eastertide?

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Motivation and invitation

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Today I’m reflecting on the aftermath of the feeding of the five thousand. It’s hardly surprising that after the miracle people feel compelled to find out more about Jesus, and the crowds went looking for him and, not finding him:

“They got into those boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus.”

As becomes clear when they eventually catch up with him, they don’t really know who or what they are looking for. But already something is drawing them to him. Maybe it’s curiosity, like the curiosity that drew Moses to the Burning Bush.

Maybe, as Jesus later challenges them, it’s because he fed them. It’s easy to be judgemental about that, but in times when people are struggling to feed themselves and their families it’s understandable, and we’d all do it.

Jesus’ response to them is very direct. He says to them:

“I tell you most solemnly, you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.”

He recognises that their motives are mixed and challenges them to reflect on that. Then he accepts where they are and invites them to move beyond that to a new understanding:

“Do not work for food that cannot last, but work for food that endures to eternal life, the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.”

His words are an invitation to them, and us, to recognise our mixed motives and then move beyond them to a deeper understand of who Jesus is. His invitation offers us the opportunity to enter into a deeper & more meaningful relationship with him.

In challenging us to examine our motives he invites us to embrace the new life of resurrection and the hope it offers for our challenging times.

How is Christ inviting you to a deeper relationship this Eastertide?

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Renewed in love.

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I find it really helpful that we hear the Easter gospels repeatedly during Eastertide. They all hold too much wisdom for just one reflection. Today we’re revisiting Jesus’ appearance to the disciples on the beach and I’m reflecting on Jesus’s conversation with Peter.

It’s the first time they’ve spoken since Peter’s denial of Jesus in Holy Week. I can imagine that Peter felt the full weight of that as he walked along the beach with Jesus after the meal. Jesus doesn’t revisit Peter’s betrayal. He offers him a way forward into renewed and healed relationship. He says to Peter:

“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others do?”

When Peter replies “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus accepts that with no questioning or recrimination based on his earlier betrayal. Instead he offers them a commission:

‘Feed my lambs.’

Yet he repeats the question twice more until Peter, getting upset, repeats his affirmation again:

“Yes, Lord, you know I love you.”

We have no idea why Jesus repeats his question, but I assume that it’s to reassure Peter. I can’t imagine that the risen Christ needed the reassurance. Jesus allows Peter the opportunity to reaffirm his love for Jesus three times and then to be commissioned by him three times.

This doesn’t undo his denial, but it balances it it in a way that I imagine Peter will find helpful to remember in his darker moments. We too need the opportunity to reset & renew our relationship with Christ from time to time.

As we move through Eastertide where is the risen Christ inviting you to a renewed relationship?