Friday 12 July 2024

Today is Friday 12 July, in the 14th week of Ordinary Time. The monks of Pluscarden Abbey sing: Ego vos elegi: ‘I have chosen you out of the world, so that you might go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last.’ As you listen to this chant, hear those words addressed to you, because they are addressed to you. God knows all your strengths and all your weaknesses, and has chosen you to bear fruit for him. Ego vos elegi de mundo, ut eatis, Et fructum afferatis: et fructus vester maneat. Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 10:16-23 ‘See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. Today we encounter the moment of Jesus sending his twelve disciples out to preach. Imagine you are one of the twelve… How do you experience what he says about the betrayal and persecution to come? Jesus tells them not to “worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say”. Do you think that you could manage that? Perhaps you have already been in this scenario before… Now listen once more as the passage is read a second time. Is there a word or a phrase that really speaks to you? What might God be saying to you here, do you think? Finally, just look back over this time of reflection and prayer, and all the thoughts and feelings that have arisen within you. Can you find a way of turning them into a prayer to God or to Jesus? 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.