This reflection is directly relevant to the tensions of this very moment in the history of the church.
In 2003, warned of the possibility that a cancer might be incurable I had no option but to lapse into continuous internal recitation of the Rosary prayers. Later I varied that by memorising the prologue to the Gospel of John – the piece that ends with ‘and the darkness shall not overcome the light’. Through the mercy of God rather than my own invention my mind now reverts to this practice when I become anyway anxious.
So it will be for all. The times will teach us to pray continuously, the Lord will wake beside us, and the sea will grow calm. Even while we discuss, we can pray also. Our minds were made for this lesson too!
Many thanks Seán, for your response — and I hope you’ll often feel drawn to add your reflections to the daily (& Sunday) homily notes. That’s why I try to upload a whole month’s worth of them at the start of each month, so that thoughtful people like yourself can have a chance to read ahead and share with us about how our Scripture Readings intersect with your actual life.
My neighbour across the back garden has just died. He was an old man nearing eighty, Peter MacGregor. I saw him a few days ago walking his dog on a cold and misty morning. We waved to one another but the cold kept me moving as I headed for the shop. On other occasions we have stopped and chatted for a while. Now he is gone.
This morning I sat down to read the mass readings for Advent, which begins this weekend, and after reading Mark in English I went and read the text again in Greek (as you do!). The word that leapt out at me was the Greek word for be watchful and alert – gregoreite! I suddenly realised that this word sounds very familiar and sure enough we have our name ‘Gregory’ from this Greek verb, to be watchful, alert.
We know not the day, nor the hour. Jesus tells his disciples to be awake at all times. We do not know the hour when the Son of Man will return. We do not know the hour when our own death will come. But we cannot simply live our lives on edge about those particular days. As Jesus says in his helpful story, it is like a man going away and leaving his servants in charge of his house. Being awake and on the job is what is needed every day. Life itself calls us to be awake.
Be on your guard, we are also told, as one year ends and another begins. Guard against lazy ways and selfish attitudes. Live every day in a lively and wide-awake manner. Be sensitive to all that life is, to its joys and sorrows and to the needs of those around you. Be a Gregory – a watchful, alert person. Whenever the Lord comes, do not be found sleeping.
This teaching of the Lord invests life with utmost meaning and worth. There no days for self-indulgence, which is a destruction of life, not a living of it. If God is a God of the living then we are called each day to be alive: Alive and alert. Watchful.
Bring your best self, your prayerful self to the table of life. Let all your contacts with others be alive with kindness and thoughtfulness. Today is the day of the Lord. Today is the day for Gregory. We each have our own task in this world that flows from our own person and life story. There are people who look to us and hope to find help and inspiration in us, just as we look to find help in them.
Let your spirit rise to this occasion. Take Gregory as a name. Be alive to the joy and goodness of your life. Enter the spirit and time of Advent and grow in its grace.
Is it OK also to pass these ACP reflections on to our parishioners in St John’s, Coleraine, Co Derry, via a website on the threshold of launching – with an attribution and link to the ACP site?
This reflection is directly relevant to the tensions of this very moment in the history of the church.
In 2003, warned of the possibility that a cancer might be incurable I had no option but to lapse into continuous internal recitation of the Rosary prayers. Later I varied that by memorising the prologue to the Gospel of John – the piece that ends with ‘and the darkness shall not overcome the light’. Through the mercy of God rather than my own invention my mind now reverts to this practice when I become anyway anxious.
So it will be for all. The times will teach us to pray continuously, the Lord will wake beside us, and the sea will grow calm. Even while we discuss, we can pray also. Our minds were made for this lesson too!
Many thanks Seán, for your response — and I hope you’ll often feel drawn to add your reflections to the daily (& Sunday) homily notes. That’s why I try to upload a whole month’s worth of them at the start of each month, so that thoughtful people like yourself can have a chance to read ahead and share with us about how our Scripture Readings intersect with your actual life.
Gregory
My neighbour across the back garden has just died. He was an old man nearing eighty, Peter MacGregor. I saw him a few days ago walking his dog on a cold and misty morning. We waved to one another but the cold kept me moving as I headed for the shop. On other occasions we have stopped and chatted for a while. Now he is gone.
This morning I sat down to read the mass readings for Advent, which begins this weekend, and after reading Mark in English I went and read the text again in Greek (as you do!). The word that leapt out at me was the Greek word for be watchful and alert – gregoreite! I suddenly realised that this word sounds very familiar and sure enough we have our name ‘Gregory’ from this Greek verb, to be watchful, alert.
We know not the day, nor the hour. Jesus tells his disciples to be awake at all times. We do not know the hour when the Son of Man will return. We do not know the hour when our own death will come. But we cannot simply live our lives on edge about those particular days. As Jesus says in his helpful story, it is like a man going away and leaving his servants in charge of his house. Being awake and on the job is what is needed every day. Life itself calls us to be awake.
Be on your guard, we are also told, as one year ends and another begins. Guard against lazy ways and selfish attitudes. Live every day in a lively and wide-awake manner. Be sensitive to all that life is, to its joys and sorrows and to the needs of those around you. Be a Gregory – a watchful, alert person. Whenever the Lord comes, do not be found sleeping.
This teaching of the Lord invests life with utmost meaning and worth. There no days for self-indulgence, which is a destruction of life, not a living of it. If God is a God of the living then we are called each day to be alive: Alive and alert. Watchful.
Bring your best self, your prayerful self to the table of life. Let all your contacts with others be alive with kindness and thoughtfulness. Today is the day of the Lord. Today is the day for Gregory. We each have our own task in this world that flows from our own person and life story. There are people who look to us and hope to find help and inspiration in us, just as we look to find help in them.
Let your spirit rise to this occasion. Take Gregory as a name. Be alive to the joy and goodness of your life. Enter the spirit and time of Advent and grow in its grace.
Are you awake?
Brian Fahy
2 December 2017
#2 I will certainly do that, Pat. On our own ACI site I have my own ‘wake up’ reflection, attuned to these times of both darkness and expectation.
https://acireland.ie/2018-year-rescue-belly-whale/
Is it OK also to pass these ACP reflections on to our parishioners in St John’s, Coleraine, Co Derry, via a website on the threshold of launching – with an attribution and link to the ACP site?