Choose a piece of rock/stone to aid your meditation and hold it.
Is it sharp or smooth?
What is the history of this stone?
It may encapsulate sudden volcanic eruption or sedimentation over millennia.
Imagine you picked it up from amongst the rocks in the Lent Landscapes picture and it is one of those sharp stones which lay on the ground when the woman ‘caught in adultery’ was threatened with stoning.
Can you place yourself in that scene and imagine how the accused woman felt when she heard Jesus say, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
The Old Testament world can seem harsh and vengeful but often there is an emphasis on forgiveness, and mercy,being given a second chance. Shimei cursed and threw stones at David when he was at his lowest ebb. Yet, later David forgave him.
David repented of his murderous behaviour towards Uriah and sought forgiveness, and God relented.
The evangelist John’s attitude to the teachers of the law and the Pharisees is ambiguous and not entirely negative; they may well have known the accused and the complexities of her life, they may have carried personal guilt, or they may just have been caught up in a situation they knew nothing about and carried along by the heat of the moment and hurt and damage in their past.
Can you enter into the mindset of one of the teachers of the law and or of the Pharisees?
Consider a situation where you have felt your anger engaged in a way which felt out of your control.
- Someone who has hurt you very much in a way you find it difficult to forgive.
- Someone who has in some way offended against your group or country.
- Maybe a country or group who has previously been ‘on our side’.
Consider how you resolved those feelings and arrived at peace in your heart.
Go back into the Lent Landscapes picture and pick up another stone, this time a smooth stone. Imagine that your stone was one of the stones which Francis tenderly removed from the path and placed to one side. Even the stones were ‘family’ in his world.
What would it be like to enter into a loving relationship with all of creation?
Consider the groups you belong to –
How far do they live up to Francis and Clare’s vision of loving relationship?
Pick one of those groups. Imagine what it would be like to live like that –
- Your church,
- A group you belong to,
- A club you are a member of, or
- Your family
Then wonder what would be needed to bring peace there
What are the elements of the situation you feel personally responsible for?
What would it feel like to take the first step towards reconciliation?
What would it feel like to have made progress towards a better relationship?
Imagine what it would be like to be travelling on foot through the Lent Landscapes picture, the rocks towering on both sides of you are now more threatening. The light is fading, and you are in danger of stumbling, or even worse, falling into a deep hole.
Suddenly, you collide with a very sharp, hidden rock.
You feel a sharp pain, and you fall to the ground.
For Isaiah that may be a sharp reminder from God to focus on him:
The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
he is the one you are to fear,
he is the one you are to dread.
He will be a holy place;
for both Israel and Judah he will be
a stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem he will be
a trap and a snare.
Many of them will stumble;
they will fall and be broken,
they will be snared and captured.”
Have things happened to you which tho’ painful you now regard as heaven sent?
St Paul turns this on its head and warns his church not to be a stumbling block to others, where they may have a strong aversion to eating food sacrificed to idols .
Where might we be a stumbling block to others?
- In the way we might try to block someone’s initiative, not on its merits, but because we do not want them to succeed?
- Or we might try to exclude them if they are new to the group and ‘they are not a good fit’?
- Or might we be seeking to make them conform to a practice which we enjoy, but is harmful to them?
- For St Paul the challenge is, ‘ Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. ’
How could you bring peace into such a situation?
Pause and consider the sharp stones and stumbling blocks in your life, and the smooth stones which have brought you connection and relationship. Lay all these feelings down and place them in God’s hands. Return your stone to its place.
Pat Mossop TSSF
