Sophie Maille rscj
Instrumental Music: CD: “A Sacred Place” by Zaragoza
First Reading: “Creature of God” (The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers, p. 88)
That God stands tall, incomprehensible,
infinite and immutable and free, I know. Yet more I marvel that His call trickles and thunders down through space to me;
that from His far eternities He shouts
to me, one small inconsequence of day.
I kneel down in the vastness of His love,
cover myself with creaturehood and pray.
God likes me covered with my creaturehood
and with my limits spread across His face.
He likes to see me lifting to His eyes
even the wretchedness that dropped His grace.
I make no guess what greatness took me in.
I only know, and relish it as good,
that I am gathered more to God’s embrace
the more I greet Him through my creaturehood.
Second Reading: 2 Cor. 12: 9-10
“My grace is enough for you, for in weakness, power reaches perfection. And so I willingly boast of my weakness instead, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.... For when I am powerless, it is then that I am strong.”
Silent Reflection
Music: “Father, Make Me Holy” (From: The God of Life, by John M. Talbot )
Third Reading: John 21: 15-19
“When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ A second time he said to him, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep.
Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go. (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, ‘Follow me’.”
Leader: (Quiet reflective music, while reading this reflection on the Gospel)
Peter’s experience of being ‘broken’ changes him from having a blind and self-satisfied heart to having a vulnerable and compassionate one. In his vulnerability, Peter’s weakness is transformed into power — the power to love: ‘Feed my lambs.’
Peter becomes a ‘rock’, not a rock of personal strength, but one of weakness and brokenness that allows God’s strength and love to come to perfection in him: ‘When I am powerless, it is then that I am strong’, he came to realize, as St. Paul did.
We might question ourselves today:
- How do we react to experiences of weakness and brokenness in our lives?
- With despair, discouragement? Or, with unfailing trust?
- What does Jessica Powers’ say to us today?
One definition of prayer is this: ‘Prayer is looking at God looking at us’. He looks at us in our weakness! Silent Reflection
Sharing
Intercessory Prayers: (Response: We pray to the Lord)
God of weakness, may our vulnerability become a resting place for You, rather than a place of avoiding You, we pray ....
God of power, may the power of Your love come alive in our weakness, we pray....
God of strength, may You complete the work of transformation that You have begun in us, we pray....
Taize Hymn: ‘Jesus, Remember Me, when you come into Your Kingdom.’
Sign of Peace In our creaturehood, let us take a moment to hear God offering us His Peace.
.... And now, let us offer His peace to one another who are experiencing our need of God’s love and peace.
Maureen Currie rscj + 2005
Province of Canada
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