A basic ingredient in the attainment of freedom: adversity that brings awareness. A traveller lost in the desert despaired of ever finding water. He struggled up one hilltop, then another and another in the hope of sighting a stream somewhere. He kept looking in every direction with no success.
As
he staggered onwards his foot caught on a dry bush and he stumbled to the ground. That’s where he laid, with no energy even to rise, no desire
to struggle any more, no hope of surviving this ordeal.
As he lay there, helpless
and dejected, he suddenly became aware of the silence of the
desert. On all sides a majestic stillness reigned, undisturbed by the slightest sound. Suddenly he raised his head. He had heard something. Something so faint
that only the sharpest ear and the deepest silence
would lead to its
detection: the sound of running water.
Heartened by the hope that the sound aroused in him, he rose and kept moving
till he arrived at a stream
of fresh, cool water.
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Thomas O’Loughlin
Introduction
Is there a more memorable scene in the whole gospel
than that of the little man Zacchaeus climbing a tree to catch a glimpse of
Jesus? Then despite Zacchaeus being the outcast in the community, Jesus
choosing to have supper with him. The Lord has come among us today, coming to
seek and save, and calling us to share his supper now in this sacred banquet.
Let us focus our minds on our need to be forgiven, our need to begin afresh,
and that we are gathered around the Lord’s table.
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