Sometimes we are inclined to go full steam ahead with our own ideas and plans. Often God has something different in store, and so we need to listen to him. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.
Readings for Saturday of the 5th week of Easter can be found here.
A teacher hands out an examination paper to a classroom full of students. At the top of the front page are the instructions, written clearly in bold: “Read all the questions carefully before beginning.” But, of course, hardly anyone does. The moment the papers land on the desks, the students start writing furiously. Only when they reach the very last question do they discover the instruction: “Do not answer any of the questions in this exam paper.” All that frantic activity, and all for nothing because nobody paused long enough to listen first. We can all be a bit like that, both in our own lives and as the Church. We think that we know best, what we should be doing and where we should be going. But often God has different ideas!
We see this happening in our first reading, as Paul continues with his second great missionary journey and gains a companion, Timothy. Twice they attempted to go to a certain area: firstly Asia, and then Bithynia, both in the far west of modern-day Turkey. Paul and Timothy thought that these were the places they needed to go. This was their plan, their agenda. But we are told that in both cases, the Holy Spirit prevented them. We are not told exactly how, but in some way or another their plans were frustrated. This leads them to Troas where God finally makes clear his plan for Paul and Timothy. Paul has his famous vision of the man from Macedonia urging them to come over, and so the Gospel is taken for the first time onto the continent of Europe.
In the Gospel reading today, Jesus talks about the importance of following the divine will rather than the human: “…you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world”. All of us need to remember this. We need to put aside our own well- laid plans, and spend serious time in prayer, in worship and in studying the Scriptures, so that God may have the space to make his will known to us. If we do that, then who knows – as with Paul and Timothy, he may lead us to do extraordinary things.
Mass today is in St Mary’s at 11.30am (preceded by the Rosary at 11am)
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