Holy Spirit of God, help me listen as one who is taught…

 
Isaiah 50:4-7 & James 1: 19-25
 
Our Master, Christ Jesus, ever the teacher, uses his Passion as much as his ministry to teach us how to navigate life’s journey. As Christ accompanies us through our daily challenges and joys – and more importantly as we accompany Him through the Paschal mysteries of Holy Week, -there is much to learn and incorporate into our own lives. Watching and praying with Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane teaches us ‘Holy Waiting’ (see Footnote). Walking the Stations of the Cross with Jesus allows Him to teach us the deep Faith, Hope and Love that sustained him through his trials and torture, This is the same Faith, Hope and Love that we need that we might walk through tough times without sin as He did. Witnessing, and being in-formed by Our Lord as He was detached from the cross and hidden away behind the stone blocking the tomb, teaches us how life always continues beyond grief, rejection, racism and persecution. And hearing with Jesus the clatter of the stone rolling aside, and Mary’s cry of recognition in the garden when His Father (and ours!) raised him from the dead, trains us to watch for all the moments of God’s raising us up from the depths of depression and despair, and the other deaths of our lives.  Finally, accompanying Our Risen Lord as he drops in on his disciples on the way to Emmaus, in the upper room, or at a beach breakfast while fishing on the Lake of Galilee teaches us our Lord’s style of friendship that is both life-giving and serving as he calls us to give to others as he has given to us. Will I listen as one distracted by all the other noise of life?  Or will I find the time and space to listen to Jesus as one who is being taught?  Holy Spirit of God, help me listen as one who is taught.
        
O that my people would listen to me, that they would walk in my ways. (Psalm 81:31 )
 
Listen to the Taize hymn:  “Wait for the Lord” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7GexIvX8HU
 
Footnote : See “The Path of Waiting” in Henry Nouwen’s book, Finding My Way Home, https://henrinouwen.org/meditations/a-spirituality-of-waiting/
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
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