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I have a candle given to me by a Benedictine monk. He said to me that he recently gave a retreat in a small village in France. Out walking one evening, he slipped and twisted his leg badly; he needed the help of crutches to walk even a few feet. At the insistence of the local villagers he went to the parish church where he was told about the healing properties of the holy water in the font. The monk obediently blessed his left leg and the villagers who were with him enthusiastically removed his left side crutch. He blessed his right leg and the villagers took away his right side crutch. And guess what happened? He fell on his . . . . I believe the French word for it is derriere. I often tell this story to groups and find that they think that the monk was miraculously cured. Miracles do happen but I think that their prediction had more to do with the combination of what they saw to be "holy" things, spiritual things. – Holy monk, Holy water, Holy place. We have been trained to see holy things as being extraordinary, to think of holiness as something ordinary people doing ordinary things could never attain. Let's give our notions of what it is to be holy, to be spiritual, a little shake. I hope that in doing so we come to a greater awareness of God present to us in the ordinary events of everyday life. I also hope that in looking at how this God operates in our daily lives we might come to know him better. What I will ask you to do next may seem a bit of a distraction but bear with me . . . I want you to imagine your favourite food. What it tastes like, what it looks like, what it smells like, how you feel when you eat it. It is your favourite food not because you have been told about it or read it on a menu; it is your favourite food because you have tasted it for yourself. Can I suggest to you that the same is true of our relationship with God. We can listen for hours and weeks to people describing how wonderful God is and how much he loves us. However, just as it is not enough to be handed a menu to acquire a taste for your favourite food so it is with God. Descriptions are not enough. We need to taste God's presence - to experience it - for ourselves, however subtle or fleeting that taste may be. A taste of God's presence need not be dramatic – it may be for most of us subtle and fleeting. Maybe we have an experience of God's presence when we come to Mass – God is present in a special way in his Word and in the Eucharist. We may experience God's presence in the beauty of a sunset, the golden shades of the autumn trees. However we might remember that God is also present – the risen Christ is present - in our midst, not just with us when we gather; Christ is present within each one of us. As Paul said to the Ephesians, "you . . .are a place where God lives through his spirit Eph 2: 22 . . .Christ makes his home in your hearts Eph 3:17" Can I suggest then to you that you are spiritual because you have God's Holy Spirit within you, the Spirit that you have been given at your baptism and the Spirit who lives in your heart, who is with you here and now? Having God's Spirit within you means that everywhere you go, you bring God to others. More than this, in John's gospel we hear a reminder than each one of us has been chosen to bring God- God's love - to others "You did not choose me, I chose you and appointed you to go out and bear much fruit . . . Love one another as I have loved you." John 15: 16,17. In your own distinctive way, in your own particular home circumstances you have been chosen, you are giving, your family and friends a unique experience of God. You are their "taste" of God, their "taste" of God's love. "You are a taste of God." What thoughts or feelings does this suggestion trigger in you? Maybe you think I'm not really talking about you. Maybe you don't feel good enough. Perhaps you think that God would need to make you a better person so that you might be "holy" enough to rise to the challenge. I mentioned a way of describing what it is to be spiritual – to have God's Spirit within you. Perhaps a description of what it is to be holy might help you to appreciate your own holiness. To do this I am going to call again on my Benedictine monk friend and the wisdom of the founder of his order – wisdom which has been retrieved by the Church in the past century. Benedict believed that holiness did not consist in doing extraordinary things, but in doing ordinary things with great love. He instilled in his monks the belief that to grow in holiness was to grow in love for God and for his people. Whatever the form of your relationship to your family be you sister, brother, daughter, son, mother, father, you carry God's love and God's Spirit to his people. Maybe you still find it hard to believe I'm talking about you. Stay with me as I help you to reflect over this past day. How many of you got out of bed this morning, as you do every morning, because someone else needed you to? – you bring to others an experience of God's faithfulness; they get a taste of a God who is always there for them. How many of you took time to listen to a friend, or a child asking the hundredth "why?" or a family member with a long story to tell? You give others a taste of a listening God, the taste of a God who has time for us. How many of you made a cup of tea for someone just at the right moment? Or produced a soft cushion, or a bag of sweets, or a hug? You gave others a taste of a God full of tenderness and loving concern for us. How many of you spent time doing something for which you will receive no thanks: a load of washing and ironing, a quiet prayer for a special cause or an unknown stranger, attending to a relative with Alzheimer's who no longer recognises you? You gave others an experience of a God who loves us without expectation of the love being returned. How many of you have spent a day with a friend or family member in pain – maybe sat beside them without saying much? You have given them a taste of a God who suffers with them, who stays with them in their pain. Briege O' Hare Family Ministry Team, Down and Connor. This reflection on family spirituality was offered by Briege in St Patrick's Church, Dungannon in Lent 2006 as part of our family prayer evenings. |
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