2012-09-22                          John W             John W's previous articles
 

Remembering Jesus:  Matthew Jesus

Yesterday was the Feast of St Matthew, whose Gospel stresses the compassion of Jesus for outcasts, sinners and the sick

Yesterday at a detention centre's hospital, I saw many drug addicts in pain and distress

So as I put my right hand on each inmate's shoulder, my silent prayer in the heart was something like "Jesus who loved outcasts and the sick in Matthew's Gospel" (with an unspoken request to bless/heal the man being prayed for).

...except with one man ...for whom this prayer came
"Matthew's Gospel Jesus, please do your thing!"

A few days ago my Bible Plan Gospel for the day had Jesus' words
"How often have I longed to gather your children, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings"

So on that day my prayer for each inmate was something like
"Jesus, please gather him under your wings"

In other words, my prayer follows the Gospel of the day, the Jesus of the day, and in this way my prayer is not just the same old  "Jesus, please help/heal", but is richer and very Scriptural

In this way also we can live out the daily readings right through the day,
using the themes of the daily readings for our prayers. Not just the Gospel, but the other readings as well

Matthew Jesus, please help us hyper-link our daily readings into the file of our daily life