Chaplain's Reflection
What relief! – We are saved!
For all their amazing experiences with him, the fearful disciples (Mark 4:35-41) still wail that Jesus doesn’t care that they are about to drown. And after 2000 years of prayer and study, discussion and teaching, we modern Christians, often sound exactly the same.
Why did you let this happen, God? “Do something! Fix it. Make it better.
We don’t get that this gospel is more about faith than the miraculous stilling of the water. Of course he can do that; he is God!
God gives us free will to make decisions in our interaction with other people and with the natural world, but when things go badly, we are very quick to demand that God fixes it. We want it both ways - freedom of decision but protection from the consequences.
He is not a puppet master, but God alone knows how our actions and predicaments play out in this world and the next. Rightly, we ask for help, but we should end every prayer “your will be done on earth as in heaven.”
Jesus stills the wind but questions their faith. In our lives, faith doesn’t change our “storms”, but it changes us. Faith allows us to be still and peaceful, amid the storm, to keep all things in perspective. To be reassured as Julian of Norwich told us long ago, “all manner of things will be well.” Particularly when the world is going pear shaped for us, we need to recognise that we don’t know the variables that God knows, and we will never have all the answers.
There are really only two prayers, “Help”, and “Thank You”.
Sion Sisters at the Heart of the Trouble
Immersed in the cauldron of Old Jerusalem for 150 years the Sion Sisters have worked for peace and reconciliation in the Holy Land. Their Sion charism, their guiding inspiration, primes them to be open to others, reaching out with love, but also stretching to question, face challenges with courage and, at times, cross boundaries.
Ecce Homo – Sisters of Our Lady of Sion Convent in the heart of Old Jerusalem
Looking from the Terrace of Ecce Homo Convent, across the dome of the convent’s basilica, past the Muezzin tower (the early morning calls of which regularly woke us up) to the Golden Dome of the Rock on the foundations of Solomon’s temple.
This is their:
Statement of Support for the Israeli and Palestinian People
“We, the leadership of the Congregation of Notre Dame de Sion, strongly condemn the attack on Israel by Hamas and the escalation of violence that it has unleashed, resulting in the deaths and injuring of countless people, Israelis and Palestinians. We also denounce the taking of hostages as a weapon in the escalation of this conflict.
We acknowledge Israel’s right to self-defense. However, we cannot ignore the increasing violence suffered by the Palestinian people. Both peoples have a right to a secure future. We hope and pray for all those who have lost loved ones, for the injured to recover from their wounds and for the hostages to be returned to their families.
May leaders with influence in our world work towards a cessation of this violence and to a just and lasting solution that will lead to peace and justice in the region.
We pray in solidarity with all in our congregation and with all people around the world who long for a time when “…they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Is: 2:4”
This is a Statement made by the Leadership Team of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion in at this time of terrible conflict in Israel and Palestine.
Deacon Mark Kelly
College Chaplain