Presence

“But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret”. (Matthew 6:6) God, You are my secret place, always dwelling within me, and I in You. May I put time aside each day to enter the inner room of my heart, in order to be with You.

Freedom

Lord, may I never take the gift of freedom for granted.
You gave me the great blessing of freedom of spirit.
Fill my spirit with Your peace and Your joy.

Consciousness

My soul longs for Your presence, Lord. When I turn my thoughts to You, I find peace and contentment.

The Word of God

²⁴And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. ²⁵But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a severe famine over all the land, ²⁶yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. ²⁷There were also many with a skin disease in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. ²⁹They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. ³⁰But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

Inspiration

Is it pride or blindness that blocks us from accepting the truth from other human beings? It has been said, ‘There are none so blind as those who will not see.’ In this gospel, we also see great anger and resentment in the Nazarenes against the one who had grown up among them, and they try to destroy him. We, too, are human beings. What are the dark parts in our own hearts?

With the Incarnation, Jesus always lived a fully human life, with all its ups and downs, joys and sorrows. Let us be with Jesus as he is driven out of his home village by the townspeople and talk to him about his feelings and great disappointment.

Conversation

Remembering that I am still in God’s presence,
I imagine Jesus Himself standing or sitting beside me,
and say whatever is on my mind, whatever is in my heart,
speaking as one friend to another.

Conclusion

I thank God for these few moments we have spent alone together and for any insights I may have been given concerning the text.

Amen