My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord

 The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Year B - 15th August 2021

Gospel Luke 1: 39–56

Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leaped for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’ And Mary said:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord

and my spirit exults in God my saviour;

because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid.

Yes, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed,

for the Almighty has done great things for me.

Holy is his name,

and his mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear him.

He has shown the power of his arm, he has routed the proud of heart.

He has pulled down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things, the rich sent empty away.

He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his mercy – according to the promise he made to our ancestors –

of his mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back home.

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Gospel Reflection from St Beuno's Outreach

I settle myself, and prayerfully read this very familiar Gospel passage. Perhaps in my imagination I watch as Mary travels to see Elizabeth.

How does she seem? Strong, excited, confident, scared ...?

How do they celebrate as they meet? By embracing, laughing, dancing ...? Maybe I notice Elizabeth’s expression as her son, John, jumps in her womb. As I listen, I hear her burst into praise, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed’... and then Mary’s response in her own hymn of praise, Magnificat. Again I stay with any phrase or word that speaks to me.

As I look back over my own history, I recall God’s goodness to me: his protective presence, his faithfulness in my life. How have I celebrated this? Perhaps I want to sing my own praises for what God has done for me and the people around me.

I talk from my heart to Jesus, or perhaps to Mary herself, about what I can do

to help those in need: the poor, the hungry, the weak ...

In time, I bring my prayer to an end, perhaps saying Hail Mary ...

The living bread

 Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B - 8th August 2021

Gospel John 6: 41–51

The Jews were complaining to each other about Jesus, because he had said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’

‘Surely this is Jesus son of Joseph,’ they said. ‘We know his father and mother. How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ Jesus said in reply, ‘Stop complaining to each other.

‘No one can come to me unless they are drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise them up on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They will all be taught by God, and to hear the teaching of the Father, and learn from it, is to come to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the one who comes from God: He has seen the Father.

I tell you most solemnly, everybody who believes has eternal life.

I am the bread of life. Your forebears ate the manna in the desert and they are dead; but this is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that someone may eat it and not die. I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever, and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’

Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever

Gospel Reflection from St Beuno's Outreach

I freely come to prayer. I allow myself to be found by God ... aware that I am responding to the Father’s invitation who draws me into relationship with Jesus. I come to rest in my own way.

When I am ready, I slowly read this rich, yet demanding, text a few times. Can I allow ‘the teaching of the Father’ to find a home deeper within me? I ponder Jesus’s profound revelation, and try to absorb it.

As I meditate on the passage, can I hear Jesus calling me to come to him for sustenance and strength ...? I pray to rely on him and his spiritual nourishment, rather than on my own strength.

Perhaps I equate my human frailty and vulnerability with failure, as Elijah did in today’s First Reading ... or like the Jews, maybe I feel like complaining?

What questions does all this stir within me on my own journey of life and faith?

I remain in contemplative silence as long as I need, while I consider Jesus’s words.

I share whatever arises with my life-giving Lord.

Our Father ...

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I am the Bread of Life

 Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B - 1st August 2021

Gospel John 6: 24–35 (part)

When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there they crossed to Capernaum to look for him. They said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered: ‘I tell you, you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat. Do not work for food that cannot last, but for food that endures to eternal life, the kind the Son of Man is offering you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.

They said, ‘What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?’ Jesus answered, ‘You must believe in the one he sent’. So they said, ‘What work will you do? Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert.’ Jesus answered: ‘It was not Moses but my Father who gives you bread from heaven, the true bread; for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world’. ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘give us that bread always.’ Jesus answered:

‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst.’

Gospel Reflection from St Beuno's Outreach

As I prepare to pray, I relax my body and mind. I become aware once again of being in God’s loving presence. I take the time to be open and receptive, asking the Holy Spirit to help me pray.

When I am ready, I read the text a couple of times.

I imagine the crowd looking for Jesus, perhaps wondering how he had escaped them. I am here too, looking for him, perhaps with my own questions ...

They call him ‘Rabbi’, Teacher. I join them sitting at his feet to learn from him. What am I hungry for? Answers to material concerns ... peace of mind ... deeper understanding of what I should do ... closer union with him ... or something else ...?

I speak to him from my heart, being honest and trusting that he accepts me as I am.

Maybe Jesus reminds me that he is the bread of life, feeding me in many ways. I ponder what his great gift means to me.

I end my prayer in a spirit of gratitude.

 Click here to read or listen to a one-minute homily on this Sunday's readings!

So that nothing gets wasted

 Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B - 25th July 2021

Gospel Mark 4: 35–41

Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?’.... Philip answered, ‘Two hundred denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece each.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, ‘There is a small boy here with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Make the people sit down.’....

Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave them out to all who were sitting ready; he then did the same with the fish, giving out as much as was wanted. When they had eaten enough, he said to the disciples, ‘Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing gets wasted.’ So they picked them up, and filled twelve hampers with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves. The people, seeing this sign that he had given, said, ‘This really is the prophet who is to come into the world.’ Jesus, who could see they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, escaped back to the hills by himself.

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Gospel Reflection from St Beuno's Outreach

In this familiar gospel Jesus gives thanks. So I, too, pause to give thanks for what the Lord has done, is doing, and will do for me.

I stay with my breathing for a few moments. I read, pause and wait ...

I might like to pray imaginatively, entering the scene. Or I could allow certain words and phrases to speak to me. Is anything drawing me now ...? Perhaps those first two words? Jesus ‘looked up’: he noticed.

In what direction are my own eyes turned? Do I see the needs of others?

Is the smallness of the boy and the scarcity of his offering saying something to me about my own apparent limitedness? I ponder what the Lord might be able do with the gift I offer, however small.

What about the crowd ‘sitting ready’? Am I ready to receive what the Lord wants to give me?

Jesus tells the disciples to ensure that nothing is wasted. What is this saying to me? I gaze at the twelve hampers, perhaps wondering at Jesus’s abundant provision. His offerings of love, care and grace are never scarce. From such gifts received, what can I share with others?

I rest in God’s love for me, ending my prayer slowly: Our Father ...

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Come away and rest for a while

 Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B - 18th July 2021

Gospel Mark 6: 30–34

The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’; for there were so many coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat.

So they went off in a boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But people saw them going, and many could guess where; and from every town they all hurried to the place on foot and reached it before them. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like a sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length.

Gospel Reflection from St Beuno's Outreach

I come to my own ’lonely place’ of prayer – somewhere that I can be free of as many distractions as possible. It may be in nature, in my room, or even surrounded by others on public transport. Wherever I  nd myself, I imagine being in the presence of Jesus, who wants me to spend this  me with him.

After coming to a point of stillness in the way that suits me best, I read the Gospel passage with loving attention.

Returning to the text as often as I need to, I use my imagination to enter fully into the Gospel scene.

What do I see, hear, and feel as I watch Jesus greet his friends on their return from their first mission?

Are they excited ... exhausted ... eager to share their experiences? How do I imagine they are feeling at this time?

Have I ever desired to share my faith experiences with Jesus?

What do I notice in the disciples and Jesus when the crowds turn up and interrupt their precious time together? Does the mood change?

How do I myself feel when the ‘action-based’ demands of my faith seem to get in the way of reflectve contemplative expression?

I share all that is in my heart with Jesus, and I listen to what he desires for me.

With gratitude for however my time of prayer has turned out, I close by joining Jesus in saying 'Our Father ...’

He began to send them out

 Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B - 11th July 2021

Gospel Mark 6: 7–13

Then Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs giving them authority over the unclean spirits. And he instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses. They were to wear sandals but, he added, ‘Do not take a spare tunic’. And he said to them, ‘If you enter a house anywhere, stay there until you leave the district. And if any place does not welcome you and people refuse to listen to you, as you walk away, shake off the dust from under your feet as a sign to them.’ So they set off to preach repentance; and they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.

Shake off the dust... (from freebibleimages.org)

Gospel Reflection from St Beuno's Outreach

I settle into my quiet space and take time to become comfortable. Then I consciously place myself in the Lord’s presence.

He is already waiting for me here, and delighted I have arrived.

I read this Gospel passage through several times. If helpful, I may like to use my imagination to place myself in the scene.

I watch Jesus gathering the disciples to him, and notice the reactions of others around him. Perhaps I imagine myself to be one of the Twelve and hear his words of encouragement.

How do I feel being chosen and trusted to go out by Jesus, carrying virtually nothing with me? Excited, nervous, or ...? Do I feel ready?

I re ect on my own life today ... where is Jesus sending me?

I listen to Jesus as he asks me to labour alongside him, entrusting myself to him just as I am.

With a sense of gratitude, I may also like to ponder those who have journeyed with me along the way. Who, or what, has given me support?

Jesus sends the disciples out in pairs with just a staff to lean on. He doesn’t want them to be held back by anything non-essential.

What might it be that holds me back from travelling lightly?

I share this with the Lord and ask for his help to let it go.

Jesus experienced opposition and rejection himself. Now he advises the Twelve how they might handle it. I ask Jesus to help me keep my focus on him, and not let any negative ‘dust’ cling to me and hinder me.

I note how I am feeling now and share this with Jesus.

I listen to what he might be saying to me.

I end my prayer slowly with words of my choice, grateful for his infinite love and his trust in me.

They would not accept him

 Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B - 4th July 2021

Gospel Mark 6: 1–6

Jesus went to his home town and his disciples accompanied him. With the coming of the sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue and most of them were astonished when they heard him. They said, ‘Where did the man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been granted him, and these miracles that are worked through him? This is the carpenter, surely, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joset and Jude and Simon? His sisters, too, are they not here with us? And they would not accept him. And Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is only despised in his own country among his own relations and in his own house’; and he could work no miracles there, though he cured a few sick people by laying hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.

Gospel Reflection from St Beuno's Outreach

Like Jesus before me, I withdraw to a quiet place of solitude to pray, perhaps out in nature, or even on a prayer walk. I ask the Holy Spirit to help still my inner being and be present to Jesus’s loving presence.

When ready, I read the Gospel slowly, several times. I probably recognise the story ... but there may be aspects of it which haven’t struck me before. I spend as much time as I need with these.

Jesus is facing opposition and rejection as he tries to do his Father’s will in his home town. Maybe this brings to mind similar experiences in my own life when I have felt misunderstood, disempowered ...?

Or perhaps I am drawn to ponder the experiences of disadvantaged people across the world. I share whatever arises with my compassionate Lord, who truly understands us all.

Using my imagination, I may take time to enter more deeply into the Gospel scene in whatever way I can. Perhaps I sense Jesus’s mood ... the disciples’ mood ... their confusion at the lack of respect and faith of the Nazareans.

I may feel drawn to the Lord’s side ... to comfort him in his sense of rejection. I allow the narrative to come alive. I remain with Jesus and his followers as the story unfolds. I notice... I ponder... I listen... I share...

When I am ready, I ask the Lord to be truly astonished by his wisdom, as were those in the synagogue. I beg to be drawn into deeper friendship, relationship and dependency on him.

Glory be ...

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