{"id":3206,"date":"2024-08-18T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-18T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/?p=3206"},"modified":"2024-08-16T17:49:23","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T17:49:23","slug":"invitation-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/2024\/08\/18\/invitation-challenge\/uncategorized\/3206\/","title":{"rendered":"Invitation & challenge."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Image by xmmr89 from pixabay.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s readings speak of invitation, call and challenge. In the first reading Wisdom sends her maidservants out into the city to invite everyone to:

\u201cCome eat my bread, drink the wine I have prepared! Leave your folly and you will live, walk in the ways of perception.\u201d<\/em>

In the gospel Jesus also has an invitation, as he offers us his very self:

\u201cI am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and the bread which I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.\u201d<\/em>

He invites us to choose the life-giving over the often beguiling death dealing:

\u201cI tell you most solemnly\u2026 Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in them\u2026 Anyone who eats this bread will live forever.\u201d<\/em>

The challenge in both these invitations is to change. Wisdom\u2019s call to walk in the \u201cways of perception” requires that we examine how we live in the light of God\u2019s teaching and to make changes where necessary.

The gospel carries a similar message. However devoted to and sustained we are by the Eucharist, by itself it is not enough. The invitation to partake in the Eucharist is a call to imitate Jesus\u2019 life of loving service in all areas of our lives.

In the letter to the Ephesians St Paul grounds this theme even more explicitly in the reality of our daily interactions. He writes:

\u201cBe careful about the sort of life you lead\u2026 Do not be thoughtless but recognise what is the will of the Lord\u2026 Be filled with the Spirit.\u201d<\/em>

While each of the readings draws us into a meaningful and sustaining spiritual practice, they also point as beyond it. They invite us to is to allow the spiritual practices affect our behaviour in every part of life. The challenge is to let the love of God we have received shine through in every encounter, every interaction and every relationship of our lives.

Where is Christ calling you to model your life on his today?
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Today\u2019s readings speak of invitation, call and challenge. In the first reading Wisdom sends her maidservants out into the city to invite everyone to: \u201cCome eat my bread, drink the wine I have prepared! Leave your folly and you will live, walk in the ways of perception.\u201d In the gospel Jesus also has an invitation, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,494,544,393,239,388,271,246,1],"tags":[28,18,53,223,384,396,6,166,8,33,229,13,29,15,24,10,285],"class_list":["post-3206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-benedictine-spirituality","category-christ","category-discernment","category-eucharist","category-gospel","category-holy-spirit","category-lectio-divina","category-scripture","category-uncategorized","tag-benedictine","tag-challenge","tag-christ","tag-christlike","tag-ephesians","tag-eucharist","tag-gospel","tag-holyspirit","tag-hope","tag-kingdom","tag-kingdomvalues","tag-lectiodivina","tag-love","tag-newlife","tag-stpaul","tag-trust","tag-wisdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3206"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3213,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3206\/revisions\/3213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turveyabbey.org.uk\/pilgrimage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}