{"id":28455,"date":"2022-02-23T07:00:23","date_gmt":"2022-02-23T06:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/er\/StNinians\/?p=28455"},"modified":"2022-02-21T22:58:54","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T21:58:54","slug":"wednesday-reflection-65","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/er\/StNinians\/wednesday-reflection-65\/","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"

23rd<\/sup>\u00a0 February 2022<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are over 50 countries in the world where it is dangerous to be a Catholic or a baby in the womb.\u00a0 There are people people in the media or in positions of power who hate the Catholic Church. Those, for example who tried to destroy the reputation of Cardinal Pell or those who are trying to destroy the reputation of His Holiness Benedict XVI. What about those who mock the institution of marriage or of parenthood or of priesthood? They love to hate.\u00a0 But God is on the side of those who pay back hatred with love.\u00a0 Just as we have such enemies, so did Jesus.\u00a0 However, Jesus did not dislike the Pharisees who deliberately set out to destroy Him.\u00a0 Indeed, He loved them and wanted them to be saved.<\/p>\n

At Sunday Mass you heard how\u00a0 David sneaked into Saul\u2019s camp thinking to dispose of his enemy.\u00a0 But then, he realises that, although Saul was personally corrupt, it would be sinful to slay the Lord\u2019s anointed.\u00a0 To slay the Lord\u2019s anointed was the equivalent of slaying God. So, David holds back and it transpires, in God\u2019s good time, that he replaced Saul as King.\u00a0 If David had slain Saul, the abuses that would have followed would have been worse than the abuses he was trying to correct.\u00a0 We need to watch that we do not fall into the same trap.\u00a0 We want Jesus to forgive us \u2026. but we may not be so speedy at asking God to forgive our enemies!\u00a0 There may even be a tendency to think of them as sinners and we are the saints.\u00a0 Actually, we are both saints and sinners.\u00a0 Admitting that does not give us licence to labelling others, saying that this person is a sinner, while that person is a saint.\u00a0 The truth, of course, is more complex. There is a bit of both in all of us.\u00a0 There is a pull, a tension, between our own sins and God\u2019s grace.<\/p>\n

We make mistakes in what we do or say. But we also pray.\u00a0 We pray for ourselves and even for those who are opposed to the teachings of the Church;\u00a0 to the teachings of Christ who always did the right thing and always told the Truth.\u00a0 We do so that all might be saved. Paul was perhaps the greatest sinner of his day and the greatest enemy of the Church.\u00a0 Look what happened to him.\u00a0 He became a Prince of the Apostles.\u00a0 I wonder whose prayer and forgiveness brought that about?\u00a0 The modern day Sauls of Tarsus need to do as Paul did and Bow <\/em>their<\/em> knees before the Father<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Monsignor Monaghan<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

23rd\u00a0 February 2022\u00a0 There are over 50 countries in the world where it is dangerous to be a Catholic or a baby in the womb.\u00a0 There are people people in the media<\/p>\n

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