Month: May 2020

Each weekday, Father James Lyons (Wellington) will be helping us reflect on God’s Word while we are in lockdown. What is God saying to us as we globally unite to defeat Covid-19?   RECREATION SETTING: colours, pictures, lights depicting hope. Prayer: The empty tomb laughs in the face of death and calls for love to embrace the world. You, O God, have set the pattern for our future – to love as Jesus loves with a joyful heart, kind and caring. Help me, and all of us, to move out from our “tombs” with new found energy and love for one another, leaving lockdown, becoming locked in to love kindness joy   The empty tomb is death’s open wound. A gaping hole exposes the power of love unable to be contained, even by death. This is the spark that opened graves, dispelled fear, brought people out of hiding and transformed them into proud, unyielding witnesses. The empty tomb spells the resurrection of Jesus and signals the undying hope of Christians.

Each weekday, Father James Lyons (Wellington) will be helping us reflect on God’s Word while we are in lockdown. What is God saying to us as we globally unite to defeat Covid-19?   WE’RE IN THIS TOGETHER SETTING: a statue or image of Mary, mother of Jesus. Prayer: Togetherness has a new meaning these days. We are together in this lockdown time, in this time shared by people everywhere, but we are separated, apart, and cannot even stand close to one another. This separateness fights a cruel and lethal virus. O God, may we not lose sight of what togetherness really means. Help us cling to unity once restored for we need each other to give life health and meaning.   “We’re in this together” has been a clarion call through the nation during the Covid-19 alert, urging the population to act as one – to stand together against a common enemy. But this “togetherness” has meant separation. Social distancing, living a “bubble life”, has emphasised isolation and for many has brought loneliness and sadness. Not being able to be at the bedside of a relative dying of the disease, a most difficult consequence.

Each weekday, Father James Lyons (Wellington) will be helping us reflect on God’s Word while we are in lockdown. What is God saying to us as we globally unite to defeat Covid-19?   LANGUAGE SETTING: Prayer: You speak to us in so many ways, Lord, telling your love and calling our names in rainfall and birdsong, in laughter and tears, in good and bad times, in sickness and in health you let us know you are with us. It can be hard to recognise your voice amidst the rushing and the noise. But now, I hear you in this gift of quiet with routine broken and separation bringing us closer than before. Yes, your voice is here telling your love and calling our names. Help us to listen, and to learn.   Language is usually associated with spoken words. Voice and sound are vital ingredients. But language is also present in sight and touch and smell and taste. All our human senses relate to language. Each is a channel of communication, tying us to one another, even unconsciously, linking us to and helping us celebrate life. It’s body language.

Each weekday, Father James Lyons (Wellington) will be helping us reflect on God’s Word while we are in lockdown. What is God saying to us as we globally unite to defeat Covid-19?   ENCOUNTERS SETTING: a lit candle and flowers and/or coloured cloths/ribbons Prayer: To encounter your Word, O God, the Word made flesh in Jesus, is to encounter a living voice a loving voice calling, inviting, challenging, revealing, offering faith, instilling hope, expecting only love. In this quiet time, tune me to your Word that I may encounter Jesus, risen and glorious to hear his voice and to gift myself for your glory, for the good of those dear to me and for all the world.   Today’s prayer time is itself an invitation to come alongside the people who “encounter” Jesus as recorded in John’s gospel narrative. Each of John’s 21 chapters is an episode in which a particular encounter involving Jesus becomes a life-changing experience – one way or another. Here is a sketch of each chapter. Spend time with one or two of them and prepare for your own encounter.

Each weekday, Father James Lyons (Wellington) will be helping us reflect on God’s Word while we are in lockdown. What is God saying to us as we globally unite to defeat Covid-19?   GRATEFULNESS SETTING: a symbol of thanksgiving Prayer: Thank you! Two little words, often left unspoken but important and necessary even in difficult times like right now. O God, so rich in compassion and mercy, and greatly in love with your creation, to thank you should be easy and spontaneous. But with the world turned upside down, populations in lockdown and businesses in shutdown, what’s to be thankful for? Open my eyes to see your hand at work even while uncertainty fills us with worry. Reveal a little more the mystery of your love. Lead me to the gifts at present wrapped in darkness. Help me to say what I so much want to say: Thank you! SCRIPTURE – JOHN 21 – Post Resurrection The disciples are dispirited following the death of Jesus. They know they have let him down; they are grieving his loss, and they themselves feel very lost. Peter decides to go back to what he knows best – fishing. Some of the others join him.

Each weekday, Father James Lyons (Wellington) will be helping us reflect on God’s Word while we are in lockdown. What is God saying to us as we globally unite to defeat Covid-19?   BE KIND SETTING: photos of parents, grandparents and/or others who have shown you the meaning of kindness. Opening Reflection: Jesus, you encouraged your friends to call God “Abba”, an affectionate name for a kind and loving parent. This is the God who makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. Help me imitate this kindness towards all, not only in this time of anxiety and concern for our health, but in all the days ahead, in all my thinking in all I speak in all I do.   Chapters five and six of Matthew’s gospel narrative provide much of Jesus’ teaching relating to kindness. The Beatitudes highlight the desire of God for respect for the various conditions and situations of humanity, bless the poor in spirit, the gentle, those who mourn, who yearn for justice, etc; to be salt and light – giving flavour and brightness to life, to make peace, to forgive – to love your enemy, to pray, not to worry or overstress… All these are ingredients for or products of kindness. Use these chapters as background to prayer today.

Each weekday, Father James Lyons (Wellington) will be helping us reflect on God’s Word while we are in lockdown. What is God saying to us as we globally unite to defeat Covid-19?   CHANGE OF PACE SETTING: if you have kept newspaper items following the course of Covid-19, spread them over your prayer space. They will teach you many things. Prayer: Slow me down, Lord. Stop me in my tracks. Shield me from the rush that Sweeps me off my feet and Sends me, blind to what really matters, Spinning through time far too fast. Slow me down.   It might seem that this prayer has been answered. Covid-19 has brought the world to a standstill. Staying at home, going outdoors as little as possible, perhaps working offsite, has forced a change of habit, a change of pace. The rush hour traffic has ceased. The parent taxi service getting children to and from their many sports is not required. With many businesses shut, even the fast-paced tv commercials have taken a break. Much has changed.