Friday - Lent 5

Twelve table clothes cut and sewn.   Eleven more table clothes to cut and sew for the Museum's  Vimy Night Fundraiser on Saturday.   Many thanks to Husband and Old Son for helping drag 47meters of fabric across our kitchen floor.    Sometimes when you get into the middle of a project,  do you ever wonder just WHY you thought it a good idea?     Twenty three meters into this project I thought my creating table clothes was nuts.   But the quote from Ignatius popped into my brain.... Ignatius said if we just gave our lives to God,  we would be amazed how God would create our lives to be fuller.   Letting go and letting God.   A mini retreat through the day.  Taking time for reflection and prayer.  Suddenly those mountainous 47 meters of fabric  don't seem as large... and especially calling in the family helps tremendously!  Thanks gentlemen!

Last evening Old Son make it to Band Practice.  Hurrah!    And the Museum Curator and I took a field trip up near Riding Mountain National Park.   A gentlemen is loaning the Museum his father's  collection.  His father was a WW2 prisoner of war in Singapore.   The Collection is immense and one can tell it was a labour of love for this gentlemean.   How neat that a Collector's  Son would share his father's collection with our Museum so all could see and enjoy rather than just a few people enjoying the Collection.   

Devotional:

Return to the Lord our God.  The Almighty God is full of tenderness and has great compassion for us.    You are faithful and hear us when we call.  You love us and lift us back up when we fall down.  You provide us with the enthusiasm to carry out the sharing of the Good  News.   In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.

Read:  St Matthew 11: 1 – 6

When Jesus finished instructing the disciples on their work,  he continues on his ministry by teaching and preaching in Galilee. 

John the Baptist is locked up in prison but hears what Jesus is doing.   John sends his disciples to Jesus to ask, “Are you the One we’ve been expecting, or are we still waiting?”  This is an interesting question to ask as John the Baptist was the one to Baptize Jesus and heard the words from heaven.      But we have to remember two things about John.  First that he was a prophet who baptized for the remission of sins in preparation for the final judgement.    John expected that Jesus would go forth quickly and strongly and become the long awaited Messiah.    Yet Jesus has just finished saying to the disciples in the previous verses that even the  work of God can start small.    Do not get overwhelmed by the large work (or large Harvest),  it is best to start small.      The second thing we need to remember about John is he is sitting in jail awaiting death.   When one is confined to a space and death is imminent,  frequently one begins to ask questions about life.    Here John asks his disciples to question Jesus and ask if Jesus really really really is the long awaited Messiah.

Jesus tells John’s disciples to go back to John and tell him this:

The blind see,  the lame walk,  lepers are cleansed,  the deaf hear,  the dead are raised,  the wretched of the earth learn that God is on their side.  Blessed is the person who does not fall away on account of me.

Do not fall away on account of me.    Hold fast and hold strong. 

You,  O Lord, are our fortress and our strength.  In times of storm,  to You we hold fast.  In times of despair,  we call upon You knowing that You are already with us in our lives and our work.   May the God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ grant us peace and love in believing. This we ask in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Many blessings!