so simple

Dec 5, 2023

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Perhaps it’s just me but these Advent readings seem to be loaded with inspiring images and life-changing awarenesses.  All of it very simple. Very very simple. So simple that children who naturally and naively live with open eyes and ears get it, when we adults presuming complexity and hidden agendas, too often miss the point.

I noticed it in the first three words of today’s first reading: “a shoot springs” and that got me back to the remarkable evidence and inspiration in the world of nature.

Look at this image (I took last night), a tree that I had sawn back to a bare stump a few weeks ago. Surely it would die? Yet new life emerges. A shoot springs.

Remarkable.

Yes, the miracle of life, and more often than not we are caught up in the routines and demands of life that our eyes and ears are closed to the miracles around us and therefore too often oblivious to the miracles in us.

As the Isaiah reading continues, for those who can truly see and hear with the openness of a child, that is with “knowledge of the Lord,”  “The wolf lives with the lamb, the panther lies down with the kid, calf and lion feed together, with a little boy to lead them”.

To continue with my own experiences in recent days… enemies begin to speak to one another, a grieving partner senses new hope and possibilities after months of feeling hopeless, I look back on a past hurt and realise that I have forgiven, the dawn comes after a long night, the feared encounter doesn’t happen. You will have your own “shoot-springing” experiences.

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An Invitation:

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Let’s spend this Advent day with child-like openness, eager to see the signs of hope which surround us in the natural world as evidence of the way the divine is working in us, bringing new life to situations that seem hope-less. And when you do notice evidence of new shoots of life, gratefully receive this as Jesus personally affirming and encouraging you.

 

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Take an initiative and send me a date time and place for a FFF cafe-catchups. john@fff.org.nz. I’ll advertise these on each morning’s post throughout Advent.  

FFF DECEMBER DIARY

Reflection day with Fr. John O’Connor
Saturday 9 December 10.00am – 3.00pm
St Patrick’s Church  31 Gerald Street, Lincoln (Canterbury) 7608
All Welcome – BYO lunch.  (FFF – the book available, $40.00)

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Sunday 10 December 12noon
St Anthony’s Seatoun.
66 Falkirk Ave.
Kim

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Monday 11 December 10.00am (& every Monday)
Moko Cafe, (at this link)
Bush Inn Centre, Christchurch
Trish

Click the image below to order FFF – the book. If you already have the book please send a comment below. How are you finding it useful? Who do you think might appreciate it as a Christmas gift?  Your comments will be helpful for others.

2 Comments

  1. I am really enjoying your book John. Each page uses “everyday wonderings” to provide a much needed encounter with Christ. Thank you.

    Reply
  2. Wonderful to watch little children play. All happy, there for the enjoyment of living a life where there is no judgement, just love.
    And Jesus too felt that way with children, “Unless you become like little children you will not enter the Lord’s kingdom.”

    Reply

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