Cynthia with her son, Messi, on the beach where her partner James goes fishing.
“This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him. ”
Jesus goes to the mountain with Peter, James and John, and a wonderful change comes over him. The disciples are able to see him in all his glory as the Son of God.
There are times in all our lives, when we might fail to see what is right in front of us. A helping hand, or a word of explanation, a new way of looking at something can open our eyes to see what was there all along.
At sea, it can be difficult to navigate and find fish to catch. Before he received training and a GPS tracker, fisherman James, in Liberia, had to try and line up his boat with points on the land to remember where the good fishing grounds were.
It was often hard to catch enough to feed his family, as James’ partner Cynthia explains, “Sometimes there wasn’t any food at all to eat. Sometimes we hoped that if there was no food in the morning, we would get food in the evening. But when the evening comes, there is no food.”
Now that he has the fish finder, James is able to navigate with ease. The fish that were there all along, are much simpler to find, so he brings home a larger catch.
Let us pray today, that our eyes may be opened to the glory of God all around us, in places where we may not have perceived it before.
And let us “listen to him”, holding God’s word in our hearts, by loving our neighbours and supporting them wherever they are in the world.
Prayer
Loving God, help us to listen to you and to live out your word in our lives. Open our eyes to situations where we can make a difference and grant us the courage to take action to support one another. Amen.
Act
Don’t forget to take your Family Fast Day envelope back to Mass today, if you haven’t already done so. Or donate directly now to the Lent appeal.