Going up the mountain

-


In the Bible there is many times that we get a glimpse of the person of God on a mountain. We can run off a few without really thinking too hard about it. We can think of the 10 Commandments coming to Moses. Also we can think of Elijah on the mountain where God showed himself in the gentle breeze.
In today’s Gospel we get a glimpse of Jesus coming with the closest of his friends to pray. They were greeted with two other people Moses and Elijah. IT shows us that Jesus is the fulfilment of the Old Testament Law or the Torah and the Prophets shown through the person of Elijah. But it’s not this I want to focus on. I want to look at what they actually did on the mountain. They went up the mountain to pray.

They went to pray. We as Christians are made to pray. Prayer should be central to who we are. IT should be just as natural as brushing our teeth.  I suspect as for me you find that prayer actually is quite difficult.  We try and yet our minds are filled with so many distractions and therefore we struggle. We are asked during Lent to pray a little more to dedicate a little more time to God. I think that prayer is more important than ever before. We live in a Godless society and yet our need for God is ever greater. So what can we do?
As far as I am aware there are not many mountains in Bognor so we need to find our own interior mountain a place where we might be able to find God:  A place where we can communicate with God our Father and listen to him. Like the disciples a place that is good to be where we want to pitch our dwelling there.

But, like any sport we have to practice in getting to that mountain. Sometimes we get frustrated because we do not find our mountain straight away and so therefore give up. Like any relationship it takes time and we need to find our own way. Maybe this lent we can try and get closer to God by our prayer and finding a place and a time to pray: To find a time to discover our own mountain and where we can hear the voice of Jesus in our lives.

If we need inspiration or a guide in this quest we can do no better than the Lord who always went away usually by himself to pray. Use the Church, use the sea front, and find a place in your house where you feel comfortable to pray this is where we find the person of Jesus. This is where we can get to our own personal mountains and be with the Lord. Most of all though use silence so that you can hear his voice gently being with you. Let us this lent spend a little more time in prayer being with the Lord who

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Year of Service

-
Image
  This last weekend I was able to look back with friends at the wonderful year I had with the Vincentian Volunteers. Looking back I can see that there are many elements to this year that have remained always with me. These I can now see and after reflection have shaped my life since this most formative year. From this year I went on to train for the priesthood and became a priest. After 16 years I left ministry and now try my best to live my Christian values and life in the world. In a recent upgrade to my CV I realised that my whole adult life has been in some sort of service to others and usually to the most vulnerable and those on the fringes of society. From working in Top Shop to ministry to the Hospital to the work I now do in education. This all stems from this year I had with the community and putting Love in action. Yes I have made mistakes on the way and my human frailty has been evident but this life was never going to easy and straight forward.  When I look back on that yea
Read more

Easter

-
Image
  Over the last few years I have had major issues with the Catholic Church. I think that my issue is the authority of the Church and how many clergy, not all, use and abuse their power and class the laity as stupid idiots. I can say this as for 16 years I was a priest and caught up in the system. When you're in the middle of it you can't aways see what is going on around you. I could not see what the Church as a structure was doing to peoples lives. Until I was out I realised that the Church and Im talking about the Catholic Church here is full up of repressed men who are scared of change scared of themselves and scared of the laity. Those who speak out especially clergy who want significant change are laughed at by others and classed as trouble makers. This includes Pope Francis himself who wants change but sometimes can't get it because of what he has inherited. It is an issue that has gone on your centuries.  This does not allow for a healthy functioning Church. There ne
Read more

What have we learnt? Covid and the last year.

-
Image
Over the last year since the start of the Covid pandemic there has been much in the press about the affects on society. We have seen that there are many people who are anxious, feel alone and worried about the future. So I looked on the Internet for the Christian response to the Pandemic. I was not surprised to see that there were many articles to suggest that the Christian Church as a whole has failed in this time.  In the first Lockdown the Churches were asked to close and there was no public worship. As the infection rate went down the Churches could open for private prayer. In the recent lockdown many places of worship have remained open although the infection rate being a lot higher. I have maybe been a thorn in peoples sides by asking why. I even wrote to the Cardinal  to ask him why. I argued that they should be left shut because of the demographic that tend to go. I got a standard reply back. When I looked in newsletters I read many times about how to give your collection and t
Read more