主日讀經反思 Sunday Scripture Meditation (05/02/2012)

本主日乙年讀經︰
約伯傳　7:1-4, 6-7
聖詠　 147[146,147]:1-2,3-4,5-6
格林多前書　9:16-19, 22-23
馬爾谷福音　1:29-36

默想︰

我們需要每天騰出時間，找個地方，讓自己可以獨處，可以祈禱。這可以是在聖堂、在車內、在浴室，或在放狗的時候。話雖如此，實行起來，卻很困難，因為總會有人撞門而進，想知道我們在做甚麼，想用同一的地方，想找我們等等。當我們容許我們的生活塞得滿滿的，安靜的時刻便會成為奢侈品，本來要用來祈禱的時間，也得要讓路給其他事項。當天主被推到一角時，我們的思想和生活就會失控，我們會開始像第一篇讀經的約伯那樣看世界，就是萬物都只值五十分，負面的思想和情緒，衝著而來，揮之不去。沒有了這少許的安靜時刻，我們會容易變得自我，以為每一件事都與我有關，因為我是軸心，整個宇宙都是環繞著我而轉。每天撥出一點時間去祈禱，都是環繞著我而轉。每天撥出一點時間去祈禱，收歛心神，是信仰生活必須的，雖然這看似微小。如果我們想活出基督，就得這樣做。今天的福音告訴我們這正是耶穌自己做的，就算需要犧牲一些應有的睡眠，提早在日出之前起牀，去做祈禱。

主耶穌，連祢都要勉力祈禱，如果我們借詞推搪，取巧躲懶，實在不智。


【摘自和平二月號】


Readings page 46:
Job 7: 1-4, 6-7
Psalm 147: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6
1 Corinthians 9: 16-19, 22-23
Mark 1: 29-39

We all need to make the time each and every day to find some place where we can have solitude and pray. It can be in a chapel, a car, a bathroom, walking the dog or whenever. It is difficult for us to do because there is always someone pounding on the door wanting in, wanting to know what we are doing, wanting that same space or wanting us.

When we allow our lives to become so filled that any quiet time gets crowded out, any time for prayer is otherwise spent. When God is pushed to the margin, then our thoughts and lives start to spin out of control and we begin to see the world as Job was seeing it in the first reading: everything around us is at best half empty and we can become saturated with negativity. Without that small quiet time we tend to become self-centered as though everything was about us as though we were some pivotal point around which the whole of the universe revolves.

Taking some brief time each day to pray and center ourselves is a small but necessary part of our faith life, if we truly want to live like Jesus. We hear in today’s Gospel that it is what Jesus himself did, even though it meant rising early, before the dawn, and sacrificing some well-earned sleep in order to make it happen. If Jesus needed to do this, we are quite foolish to think it is a luxury we can omit.

I will praise the Lord for He is good (Ps 146).

Shalom – Thoughts for Prayer