by Vincent | Jul 14, 2019 | General Interest
In thinking about today’s Gospel passage and the Good Samaritan, my mind wandered back to a conversation I had a number of years ago.
Her husband was very ill and, like many in that situation, she was taking him for a hospital appointment. She pulled in her car by the footpath and battled with a wheelchair as she tried to help her husband from the car. A young man was walking past her. He was on his mobile phone. She heard him say: “I have to go, I’ll call you back.” He came to their car, helped her and stayed with her and her husband until he was safely in his chair and ready for the appointment. She didn’t know him but his act of kindness was recalled at her husband’s Funeral Mass.
The Good Samaritan isn’t a hero or someone who does extraordinary things. Rather, he or she, is one who notices something that needs to be done and does it – even if it means ending a phone call or being delayed.
I remember this unknown man today. Chances are he may not even remember this moment but the people he helped didn’t forget.
Jesus’ final words in today’s Gospel leave us in no doubt how we should respond to this story:
“Go, and do the same yourself.”
by Vincent | Feb 16, 2016 | Reflections, Lent 2016
We’re nearly a week into Lent now. How is it going? Have there been slips? Chances are, there have been some … As they say so often at meetings: “Where to from here?”
At the third station of the Cross, we reflect on the first fall of Jesus. Though it’s not recorded as such in Scripture, it’s certain there were moments on the Calvary Road when Jesus collapsed beneath the uninvited and equally undeserved weight of the cross.
Falls are uncomfortable and unsettling. The ground is never welcome and we prefer to be on our feet. The fall has its place though, it reminds us of our fragility and weakness. It speaks to us of seeking help and support that feet may be found again. There’s a need to reach out to others – to God – for guidance. The helping hand is never more welcome.
So, a week in, fallen or not let us trust in the “helping hand” and not be afraid to seek its gentle and guiding way.
Patrick Kavanagh expresses this desire to rise again in one of his poems, entitled “From Failure Up”
Can a man grow from the dead clod of failure
Some consoling flower
Something humble as a dandelion or a daisy,
Something to wear as a buttonhole in Heaven?
Under that flat, flat grief of defeat maybe
Hope is a seed.
Maybe this is what he was born for, this hour
Of hopelessness.
Maybe it is here he must search
In this hell of unfaith
Where no one has a purpose
Where the web of Meaning is broken threads
And one man looks at another in fear.
O God can a man find You when he lies with his face downwards
And his nose in the rubble that was his achievements?
Is the music playing behind the door of despair?
O God give us purpose
by Vincent | Mar 14, 2015 | General Interest, Reflections, Religion, Stations of The Cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
I remember a man coming to me very early one morning. He was looking for some food and possibly a few euro as he faced the day. I asked where he’d stayed the night before and he told me, without any hesitation, that he had slept under a lorry that was parked for the night down the street.
Tonight, in many of our larger cities, people will wrap themselves in sleeping bags, boxes, rolled up papers, old blankets and anything they can find to help keep out the cold. They’ll settle down for the night in the doorway of a shop, down a side street or under a bridge. Wherever a spot is available that promises the possibility of a night’s sleep, it will be utilised. This is an image, as my opening line of this paragraph suggests, linked with larger cities and a significant amount of homelessness. My early morning encounter is not from such a setting. It is rural. It is happening all around us. People are struggling.
I have an image at this station, not of the ones huddling down for the night, but of people gathering in twos, threes and more to make soup and sandwiches, to gather sleeping bags and warm clothes and to prepare for the nightly “soup run”. I’ve never done this – never really even considered doing this – but very many do. They know where to go. They know what to say. They do what needs doing.
There are many such groups but one is called the Simon Community. I believe, though I may be wrong, that their name comes from this Station; Simon helping Jesus to carry his cross. The first Simon was an unwilling volunteer. He was dragged from his vantage point on the side of the road and placed centre stage. His reluctance didn’t hold him back though. We can only begin to imagine the difference it made to Jesus when some of the weight was, quite literally, taken from his shoulder and shared. Simon, on that day, made a huge contribution and I suspect that afterwards his reluctance would have given way to joy that he had been able to help a man, trapped in a place and time not of his own making. I’d imagine he’d have been pleased to be able to say he had done something to help.
This station calls us to spare a thought for kindly people and to share their load in whatever way we can – maybe we could volunteer to travel with them sometime or to offer a few euro from time to time. http://www.simon.ie/
Oh, that today we would listen to his voice, let us harden not our hearts.
