A Day in the Life of...just about anyone! (Y-not question the Sunday Readings)

by CathyT , Adelaide, South Australia, Sunday, February 05, 2012, 14:14 (472 days ago) @ Ynot

Thank you yet again to Tony, Jerome and Sue for getting us thinking about different aspects of today's Gospel. Tony, I'd especially like to say that not only is this reflection one of your best, IMO, but it's one of the best commentaries I've ever read on a Gospel passage.

One thing which particularly strikes me about this Gospel story - and I think your reflection helped me see it this way, Tony - is that, in a sense, it could be describing a day in the life of just about anyone! I mean, to borrow Tony's very apt phrase, Jesus did not operate from the "great heights of a cathedral pulpit", nor from the great heights of a temple, or a palace, or anything else like that. Jesus very much lived among the ordinary people, and in fact, although he did such extraordinary things, he WAS an ordinary person. Hence, I feel I can say that this could be a description of a day in the life of almost anyone, a day that consists of spending time with friends, sharing a meal with them, helping others as best you can, and finding time for quiet prayer.

This last point is, I'm sure, one that many parents could identify with. I particularly thought of this when I read the bit about Jesus having to get up extremely early and going off on his own to pray - and even then he had people coming after him to let him know he was needed! I am reminded of something a friend once told me, about the time when her five children were teenagers or younger. She said that at that stage of her life, she found it so hard to find quiet, uninterrupted time for prayer and meditation that she decided she would have to wait up till the early hours of the morning. This she did - only to have her teenage children and their friends burst into the house and shatter the silence, having decided to end their evening out by bringing a pizza back to their house! So much for a quiet time of solitude!

So - to borrow from another Gospel - the Word truly became flesh and dwelt among us, and, I think we can add, truly became one of us.

Cathy Taggart

I splash in my poetry puddle
and try to keep God amused. - James Broughton