Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

  Dust lay quiet on his eyes, a night he never chose. From birth he walked in borrowed dark where no horizon rose. Voices passed like drifting wind, faces he could not find; the world was sound and gentle touch— a map within his mind. Then Jesus came with quiet hands, and mercy softly stirred; Clay mixed with tears, a healing touch, and grace within His word. Then light broke through—he saw the sky, the dust, the waiting crowd; the colors of the waking world that once were veiled by cloud. He saw the Light behind the sun, in every shining ray; the God who formed the burning stars had come to walk his way. The Healer God who made the sun had sent His Son to heal; Amazing grace, how sweet the sound— my sight restored, I kneel. You looked on him—You looked on me, my broken chains release; a man born blind, but now he sees, and praises Christ eternally. 

Sometimes we need precisely that moment where we catch a glimpse of our own reflection and realise that the face that looks back at us is sad, tired and confused and needs to be hydrated from the wellspring of life, the encounter with Living Water, Jesus Christ. After the encounter with Jesus at the well, the Samaritan woman becomes a well-woman. Then, the reflection which she sees is that of a beloved child of God, beloved of the Father. It took a while for her to get to that place where she could feel that. Yet, without realising it, she is like the empty water jug which she carries. It is ready to be filled. She is a container to be filled with the living water which gushes forth from the wellsprings of life. First she hesitates, she focuses on the law. Jesus focuses on grace. Jews weren't supposed to speak to Samaritans. More so, men weren't permitted to address women without their husbands present. And "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman," she reminded...

Each Sunday of Lent catapults us into a different stage of Christian journey. From the desert of temptation in last week's liturgy, we move to the Mount of Transfiguration. The desert is a place of passage to get to our destination. No-one aspires to live in the desert. Peter, James and John try to stay on Mount Tabor: "Lord, it is good for us to stay here, let us build three tents." But similarly, the mountain is not the destination. We move onwards, fortified by the experience of being with Jesus. There is a small but very significant phrase: "The disciples looked up and saw  only Jesus ." Only Jesus. Are we able to see 'only Jesus'? ? Are we able to live only for Jesus? Is all that matters to us, only Jesus? How different would our lives be if our permanent focus was only Jesus, the measuring stick for all that we do, the moral, spiritual and emotional compass in our lives? But this would mean making changes in our lives. Filtering through all the clu...