Scripture for
meditation: Luke 8:19-21
The Mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were
unable to join him because of the crowd. He was told, “Your Mother and brothers
are standing outside and they wish to see you.” He said to them in reply, “My
mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”
Sister Ruth Burrows,
O.C.D. tells us: Jesus is with us always, not so as to pillow our weary
heads on his breast and continually murmur words of solace in our ears, but so
as to share with us his vision, his passionate dedication to the Father’s will.
He is with us to brace, reinforce, and underpin us for our life’s great task.
True, he lifts from our shoulders the crushing yoke of an alien master, the god
we have fashioned in our own likeness, by revealing to us the true face of the
Father. He breaks off self-made shackles of bondage and sets us free. Thus his
companionship gives us rest and real happiness. Nevertheless, there remains a
yoke and a burden that has to be carried with courage and love. Life-giving,
joy-giving knowledge of Jesus and of the Father he reveals does not drop into
our lap from heaven. We have to work for it. “Come to me” says Jesus, and we
must go to him. And the prime way of going to him is by intent, loving
absorption of Scripture…, particularly the New Testament. Put simply: we must strive
to acquire an intellectual knowledge of him, of his attitudes, values, and
teaching. This intellectual knowledge is certainly not intimacy, certainly not
a “knowing Jesus” but it is an indispensable ingredient for intimacy and real
knowing. It is work we have to do, a practical expression of our earnest desire
to get to know our Lord. (Taken from the
Magnificat, September, 2012).
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