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The Nearness of God: Advent Retreat 2020

Sacred Space

Your daily prayer online

Daily Prayer - 2021-01-16

Presence

I remind myself that I am in your presence O Lord.
I will take refuge in your loving heart.
You are my strength in times of weakness.
You are my comforter in times of sorrow.

Freedom

"Leave me here freely all alone
In cell where never sunlight shone
should no one ever speak to me
This golden silence makes me free."
Part of a poem written by a prisoner at Dachau concentration camp

Consciousness

Lord, you are present in all things
And when I take time to simply sit and be with you
My mind rests
And I feel your peace.

The Word of God

Mark 2:13-17

Jesus went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples--for there were many who followed him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard this, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."

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Some thoughts on today's scripture

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  • Once again a large crowd is gathered to see and hear Jesus. Perhaps some of them feel that now is the time to start a mass movement? But Jesus will have none of it: he singles out a despised tax-collector and asks him to follow him. What use can this man be--isn’t he a liability? After the meal I find an opportunity to chat with Matthew, who tells me that the focus of Jesus’ ministry seems to be on the sick, the needy, the despised and the sinful. We reach the insight that the self-satisfied don’t know their need for God and so they would feel out of place as his disciples. The place in their hearts reserved for God is already occupied.
  • I chat with Jesus who surprises me by asking if I am weak enough to be a disciple.’Do you know your own limits enough to put your trust in me rather than in yourself?’ I think of the cancer of clericalism in the Church, where exercising power over people is more important than serving them. I pray for what I need.
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Conversation

“Stay and watch with me.”
Your words, Lord, to the disciples
before your suffering and death.
I know, Lord, You will stay and watch over me
all the days of my life.

Conclusion

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
As it was in the beginning,
is now and ever shall be,
world without end.

Amen

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