Saint Fursa, Abbot and Missionary
January 16th, 2010
“I did not come to call the virtuous but sinners”.
Mark 2:13-17
Levi, one of the first disciples to be called by Jesus was regarded by many as a public sinner, a collaborator with the occupying power collecting the taxes levied by them against his own people and yet the Lord calls him – a reminder, no doubt, of the inclusive nature of the Kingdom, no one is excluded from the banquet of the Lord.
“He sits at table with tax collectors and sinners.”
Prayer
Prayer: Lord, I humbly acknowledge my sinfulness and ask pardon for the many times that I have labelled and judged others unfavourably. May your healing love melt the harshness of my judgements and make me an instrument of forgiveness and reconciliation in the community.
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Just a Thought
Hope
John XXIII, referred to as the ‘caretaker Pope’, realising the widening gap between the Church and the world of his day, wrote: “An old world is disappearing. Another one is being formed, and with this I am trying to conceal some good seed or other that will have its springtime, even if it is somewhat delayed, and comes after I’m dead.”
Thomas Merton writes: “One must not give in to defeatism and despair: just as one must hope for life in a mortal illness which has been declared incurable.”
Even when dark clouds surround us, even when everything appears to be falling apart, we must continue to believe for a better future. Whatever the problem, there is a way forward.
So, my hope is in God alone because I believe in him; this is my faith. It is in him I put my faith and that faith, my belief in God’s love for me and all his creation, is the bedrock in which like an anchor, I put my hope. Together with that hope and faith is my love and fidelity in responding to that God in whom I live and move and have my being. In him I place my hope.
“Hold fast to the hope that lies before us. This we have as an anchor of the soul” (Heb 6:15-19).
