Sunday Reflection with Canon Robin Gibbons - 7 August 2022

Christ and Abbot Mena Coptic Icon - The Louvre, Paris - Wiki Image

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Do you love new adventures? I don't mean the once in a lifetime 'big' events but the challenge of something surprising and new entering your life? Those little happenings, or perhaps new people, that can change the pattern not only of the day, but perhaps the trajectory of ones life? They come in surprising ways don't they? I was thinking of how many times my own point of view has been completely reshaped by something that enters into my life, unbidden but then welcome, like a new teacher alerting me to new horizons, differing approaches to a problem or perhaps to se somebody in a completely new light. I am not good with those who are so sure of being right that debate with them is difficult, I find meetings arguments difficult and take time to ponder a question, too often in my own life I have been told how wrong I was, yet in the slow thinking of my own mental journey a light often switches on, instinct, intuition bound up with prayer often leads me on to a solution, or at least the right questions, there is something that whispers 'follow your heart'.

Jesus' words: 'For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be'(Luke 12:34) seem to me to be one of those keys to an adventure in faith, invert this, 'where your true heart is so will be your treasure be', puts another gift in my hands. If, as I hope it is, my real treasure is that seeking for God, being open to the calling of the Holy One, asking that the Spirit keep the promise of being my advocate, trusting in the promises of Christ, then the surrender to that heartfelt insight becomes an inevitable journey in faith and a necessary part of our Christian vocation. But there are times, when like Abraham we simply have to hang on and trust, the heart tells us we will get there in the end, but the signs suggest otherwise, all we can do is as Abraham did, trust in our heart. 'By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance;
he went out, not knowing where he was to go.(Heb 11:8)

There will be times when we face this unknowing, when like the could on the mountain of Transfiguration what we thought we knew, what we believed is hidden from us in some way, but if we hang on, remain determinedly faithful to hold fast to that promise of Christ not only to be with us, but to give us the Advocate, we shall find, as Abraham and Sarah did, as did Peter on the mountain of Transfiguration, that we will have glimpses of the Holy One very near us.

One thing I want to share with you is the journey into the simplicity of faith, this is what I think Abraham and Sarah teach us,(as does `Peter with the Transfigured Christ) in the end it is all about a relationship we have to really open up to. This often happens when our props have been removed, all the religious clutter taken away, so that unhindered, free from barriers except our own will, the real connection with the Holy can open up. Our relationship with the Holy One is never broken, for in Christ we have the most faithful One of all. Maybe we can hold before us this last image Luke gives us from Jesus of a serving God, and see that as our destiny. We wait, we open ourselves, and the Holy One comes, not to rule it over us, but to fulfil beyond all fulfilment the command of loving one another! 'Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them'.(Lk 12: 37)

Lectio

Psalm 139 (NIV)

VV 1-12

You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.

5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

Saint John Climacus

From the Ladder of Divine Ascent

'Let your prayer be entirely simple. One word was enough for the publican and for the prodigal son to obtain God's forgiveness (cf. Lk 15,21)… No pretentiousness in the words of your prayers; how often it is that the simple and unadorned stammerings of children sway their father! So don't launch into long discourses lest you weaken your spirit through verbal affectation.

A single word from the publican moved the mercy of God; one word full of faith saved the good thief (Lk 23,42). Prolixity in prayer often fills up the spirit with images and dissipates it, whereas a single word often has the effect of recollecting it.

Do you feel consolation, gripped by a word of prayer? Remain there, for it is then that our angel prays with us. Don't be too sure of yourself, even if you have attained purity; rather, have great humility and you will then feel greater confidence. Even if you have scaled the ladder of perfection, pray for forgiveness for your sins; pay heed to Saint Paul's cry: "I am the foremost among sinners" (1Tim 1,15)… If you are clothed with gentleness and free of anger little else is required to free your soul from its bondage'.