week 27 - A new reality
Theme: A new reality is coming to light.
The powerful experiences of the first people to witness the resurrection call us to believe in the new reality of the resurrection: Jesus is still always present with us.
What I may wish to ask for:
That I can allow this new, unexpected life to become a part of me and that I can feel the connection with the first witnesses.
Music: Give us, Lord, a new heart. Bernadette Farrell
Give us, Lord, a new heart
Recreate your spirit within us.
I will cleanse you in living waters.
I will wash away your sin.
I will put a new spirit in you
and you shall live, shall live.
I will implant my law deep within you.
I will write it on your hearts.
I will be your God,
and you shall be my people.
For all your faults
I will grant forgiveness,
nevermore will I remember
your sins.
Spotify Link:
https://open.spotify.com/track/6t2qHJdmhf8IVrE53tDqfA?si=ad399dc2a3544cba
YouTube Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKNezrPwNys
Luke 24, 36. 46-49
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Jesus’ friends and the people He met on the road to Emmaus have told each other about their encounters with the risen Lord. Jesus comes and stands in their midst and He has just one message for them: “Peace be with you”. No reproach. No judgement. Only peace, love, compassion and tenderness. Also, for me! I have been forgiven for all the times I have disappointed God or Jesus. I allow Jesus’ voice to truly penetrate my heart and soul: “Peace be with you”.
…. and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
I am also being called to repent and change my ways. To repent means to allow Jesus to be resurrected in my own heart. To allow his message of peace to become a contagious fire of thankfulness within me. That doesn’t just happen with a click of the fingers. Contemplation, silence and seclusion are needed in order to receive this grace. Is there a place where I can stay until I have been “clothed with power from on high”?
In the midst of all
my worries and concerns
I stop and contemplate
Stories
told throughout the ages
tell me, God,
that your hand of tenderness
is resting on my shoulder.
In Jesus you cry out
that You have a heart
for people,
in whatever darkness
and desperation
they may find themselves.
Awaken in me
the desire
to live to the full.
Dispel the fear I have
of accepting, of loving,
myself and others.
Melt away the bitterness
caused by the suffering inflicted upon me.
Strength of fire
beckon me
give me
to your people.
Karel Ceule s.J.
A hand of tenderness on my shoulder. A word of peace. In this way a new reality is made possible. Have I experienced things in my life which have convinced me that God’s hand of tenderness is resting on my shoulder? If not, maybe this is something I long for?
The poet prays to be able to give to others the grace he himself has received. The words of peace spoken by Jesus, a hand of tenderness on my shoulder are signs of God’s love. Do I also want to pray that God’s fire of love in me becomes contagious? To be able to pass on to others God’s infinite love? “Strength of fire beckon me, give me to your people.”
“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43, 19)
This text reminds us of Christmas. Hope and new life. God with us. Now, after the death of Jesus, there is again hope and new life. God with us. “It springs forth now, do you not perceive it?”
Music: Give us, Lord, a new heart