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SOMETHING TO THINK AND PRAY ABOUT THIS WEEK
The Comfort of Knowing that God is Near
I knew a man who fought cancer to the end. He took to every type of possible healing. We had all been told it wouldn’t work. I know another who just opened himself to it all and wouldn’t even take chemo. These are different approaches to suffering. One fought it and the other accepted. I admired the both of them.
Many people go into hospital wondering about their illness, and worry that death might be close. That’s part of life. As for Jesus: it’s a fearful time, confusing, and sometimes draws us into more faith. We can transform our pain into suffering, and find some great graces in it. There is the challenge to find new life in it. Pain becomes suffering. Jesus doesn’t want the chalice of the garden, but he allows it become fully part of him so that his inner strength is big! It doesn’t mean a simplistic approach, rather it means an acceptance of darkness in life.
Jesus found in his passion that God the Father is near. This can be our way and we can find that through helping each other. We can help people at times of suffering – listening, being present. We find this in
our hearts, not in books – we find that we can grow through suffering and we realise on a bad day that peace invades the soul, or that there is a bright light in the darkness.
Excerpted from Gospel Reflections for Sundays of Year B by Donal Neary SJ
We Remember At This Time…
“The first sign of hope should be the desire for peace in our world, which once more finds itself immersed in the tragedy of war” (Irish Bishop’s Conference Autumn 2024)
We pray to the Lord that we don’t despair and always have hope for peace, and that God will give us the grace to be peacemakers in whatever troubled situation of life we find ourselves in. Amen!
“Those who are peacemakers will be called ‘children of God’” Matthew 5:9
Sacred Space – Daily Prayer for 25 Years
Sacred Space began in 1999 and has offered new content every day since then. You can learn more about Sacred Space on our About page, or if you are a regular, you can share your Sacred Space Story on our Feedback page. For our 25th anniversary, we are featuring stories from people for whom Sacred Space has played a special part in their lives. Please consider sharing your Sacred Space Story.
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