The Big Picture
The Sunday Gospels being currently read show Jesus in a number of difficult situations. Quite simply different people come picking a fight with him. By asking nasty, tricky questions they try to ridicule him and put him down. In each situation, he deals with the questions by taking the issue to another level and transforms it into something positive. Tricky situations are part of all our lives and we can learn a skill or two from what Jesus did.
When we find ourselves in a negative or difficult situation we can be badly affected by it and become difficult and negative ourselves. All sorts of things can throw us off course: defiance from a two-year old to marriage problems, difficult neighbours to uncertainty at work. When we feel that we are being overwhelmed, we need to step back and try to see the situation at another level. One way of doing this is to stop, breathe deeply and try and imagine three different ways of dealing with the situation other than the way you normally do. It doesn’t matter how silly, outrageous or impossible those imaginings are, the very act of trying to see it differently free us from the bog of negativity. We can pray for the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to see how we can bring God’s grace and love into these dark and difficult places in our lives.
Loving God, we want our lives to be full of love, light and joy but so often we find ourselves overwhelmed by difficulties and failure, both of others and ourselves. Send us your Spirit that we may respond like Jesus with wisdom, wit and ingenuity. We ask this in his name confident that you will hear us.
Sr Kym Harris osb