Welcome to the Saturday Examen. This week we have celebrated the feasts of mystics, evangelists and martyrs. Our readings have reflected on what commitment to the Gospel means in our daily lives. Teresa of Avila wrote: ‘Christ has no body now but yours […] Yours are the eyes with which he looks with compassion on this world […] Yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world.’ The words of the Gospels, Epistles and prophets invite us to deeper commitment and more authentic discipleship. Have you had any sense during this week of how that invitation is working in your life? St. Ignatius of Loyola wrote the Spiritual Exercises to help free others from ‘disordered attachments.’ The letter to the Galatians contrasts being driven by the tendencies of the flesh to being guided by the Spirit. How have this week’s readings helped you to think about living free from such compulsions and living in the freedom granted to us by the Spirit? The reading from Ephesians speaks of our being chosen by God to be holy. It stresses God’s saving desire to forgive all our sins and lavish the riches of grace on us. What has been your sense of being forgiven and graced this week? Are there any graces that you particularly long for, or is there anything for which you specially feel you need God’s compassion and mercy? St. Luke accompanied Paul on his missionary journeys in faithful friendship, despite many difficulties. The French Jesuit Jean de Brébeuf and his companions, whom we remember today, suffered martyrdom to bring the Gospel of Jesus to the Huron tribes of Canada. What sense have you had this week of being called to friendship with God and God’s people? How might that friendship be strengthened for you? 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.

Saturday 19 October 2024