International Catholic Conference of
Guiding
Reconciliation - Luke 11, 5-13
|
|
[Matthew 5-20-26][
Luke 10, 38-42][
Luke 11, 5-13][ Luke
11, 15-26]
[ Luke 11, 27-28][
Luke 17, 11-19][
Luke 11, 42-46][
Luke 11, 47-54]
Luke 11, 5-13
And Jesus said to his disciples, « Suppose one of you should go to friend's house at midnight and say `Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread'. A friend of mine who is on a journey has just come to my house, and I haven't got any food for him.' And suppose your friend should answer from inside, `Don't bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything. ' Well, what then? I tell you that even if he will not get up and give you the bread because you are his friend, yet he will get up and give you everything you need because you are not ashamed to keep asking.
« And so I say to you: ask , and you will receive, seek and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For all those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks. Would any of you who are fathers give your son a snake when he asks for fish? Or would you give him a scorpion when he asks for and egg? Bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then , will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! »
| Meditation |
by Jean Debruynne |
The Gospel is written with words.
In the Gospel we do not look for ideas, but for words. It is behind the words
that the secrets are hidden. We have to start off by gathering these words as we
would start off gathering almonds, whalnuts and we need to open the fruit in
order to find its secret.
It is an open door through which you are invited to go in order to reach the
table of the Gospel. There is a piece of bread there to feed you.
We are going to follow the track of
this Gospel. You'll listen to the words and you'll try to find out which are the
words that reach you this morning. What are the news that they convey to me , in
my own life. Not in my principles, my ideas in general, but concretely in the
actions of my daily life.
What hope is conveyed by words?
We are talking about a friend. Today
the hero of the story is someone who has a friend.
This text is a story;
Through this sory, Jesus wants us to understand something about his friend. If
it is a friend, it means that they know each other. He arrives in the middle of
the night, he is not afraid of him, he knows his voice, they are in touch.
The friend comes in the middle of the night.
He has just knocked.
He has just disturbed everybody.
The night is for sleeping, and at night the friend comes to disturb us.
Here I will give you a small detail to help you understand this text, because
the houses in Palestine at the time of Jesus are not as African or European
houses.
In Palestinian houses there was only
one room. In one part of it the muttons and goats were kept, next to it was the
space for sleeping and the attic where the provisions were kept.
The house was made in such a way that first there was the door, then the parents
sleeping quarters near the door, then the children just before the attic.
Therefore all the children had to be woken up in order to reach the provisions
where the bread was kept. One can understand why the friend answers in such a
way. Everybody had to be woken up. Everything has been disturbed.
Luke wants us to understand that the event disturbs everything.
We are going to stop here and think about this event, beacause who is this friend that arrives? He is really an event that has happend. What is happening in my life? What is happening to me?
Events can sometimes be very
difficult and they can hurt. Not only because they disturb my plans but because
the can generate death.
If we are meeting here today, it is because very many African countries have
experienced death. It happend to us.
The first thing that I would ask you
to do, is to abandon the thought that these events might have been a punishment.
God is not a murderer.
God cannot rejoice in the death of someone.
We heve lived through these events, that happend to us when we did not expect
them and which hurt us.
An event that happens is always also a question.
What does this event want to say to me? The message is not necessarily a
reproach. But it is always a call to convert one's heart.
The friend who has just woken me up
in the middle of the night disturs me, but he also conveys the request of
disturbing my heart.
I say no, and he asks me to say yes.
The friend will say yes simply because he wants to be left in peace!
The peace that we want to welcome here, is a loving, living peace. A flowering
peace. A peace that invents the future. A peace bearing ripe fruits. This kind
of peace cannot be bought.
Jesus says: ask and you'll be given.
Seek and you'll find. Knock and doors will be opened.
He who ask, it means that he needs it, that it is necessary for him, that it is
urgent for him. The newly born cries when hungry, because he cannot speak.
And you? What are you asking for, what are you crying for? What are the
aspirations of your heart?
Peace has to be asked for.
Peace is like a hunger.
There are many societies in the world that don't want peace. It does not suit
them, because it is incompatible with their business interests....
What kind of peace do you want?
What is your heart asking when it is asking for peace?
Seek and you'll find!
When one has lost a paper, ones glasses, one looks everywhere.
What are you looking for here? What is your heart seeking?
Dare to knock at the door!
Why do you want to knock at the door?
Konck and someone will open! It also means: be confident! If you seek, if you
knock: be confident! don't say that you'll never manage.
Ask and you'll receive.
Knock and someone will open.
Seek and you'll find.
Luke expresses this confidence through two parables.
When your son ask you for fish,
would you give him a serpent? When he asks for an egg, would you give him a
scorpion?
When a child trusts you, then how much more can you trust Our Father in heaven,
in order to live, love, be a woman.
Trust!
We will meditate in silence. We'll think about the words that speak to us.
