freedom is…

Nov 15, 2024

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My last update was posted during last weekend’s retreat in Indonesia, a meeting of more than sixty people from half a dozen countries across South-East Asia.

It was a wonderful gathering of inspiring people drawn together by their desire to live vibrantly in relationship with Jesus Christ. Along with the spontaneous conversations over food and drink the highlight was hearing so many speak personally and poignantly of their experience of Jesus in their lives in recent weeks.

I could have listened to them share forever as we followed the theme Here is the Paradox: Freedom is Dependence Upon God.

We never tire of hearing real, present, concrete and life-changing evidence that God is present and active in the lives of those who seek the divine.

That’s why I’m reading and re-reading Fifth Gospel Living.

You might even spot a copy of the book in the group pic above!

My flight home was delayed due to volcanic activity in Indonesia and finally at 2.00am on Monday morning we boarded.

I arrived in Auckland nine hours later feeling pretty exhausted, feeling unwell, and discovering that the delayed arrival meant i had missed my connection and needed to spend the night in Auckland before catching a Tuesday flight to Christchurch.

At this stage I realised my feeling unwell was really a pretty severe dose of food poisoning.

These things pass (food-poisoning flows with puns) and only now after five days the symptoms (you don’t need the details!) have finally eased.

It is significant what goes through the mind when ones appetite for food, drink, movement, reading, movies etc is nil. For most of the days I was unable to do more than watch the clouds passing, the rain falling and the birds perching on the tree outside my window.

My apologies that this also meant we never got to produce a Homily Studio podcast this week.

But in these days, beneath my inconvenience, I have lived with a renewed empathy for those who feel no hope for recovery from their sicknesses and sufferings.

In these days my hope for my own recovery was present and strong.  I had the advantage of being inspired by last weekend’s retreat, the people, and its paradoxical theme – I have freedom when I am totally dependant on God.

And today as I browsed back through the retreat’s WhatsApp page I saw that someone had uploaded a pic of one of our young participants, engrossed in other’s experiences of God.

Now that’s freedom.

 

 

4 Comments

  1. Oh no John, what a difficult time this has been, but as always you are able to find fruit in the places that seem the driest.
    I hope you are well on the road to recovery now,.
    Thank you for your vision of The Fifth Gospel Living.. it is inspiring and full of treasure.
    Blessings

    Reply
  2. Dear John
    Be well…

    I think of that Scripture about unclean things…

    It is evident good things flow from your heart!

    Reply
  3. Sorry to hear you have been so unwell. May you be washed anew & many blessings upon you Fr John.

    Reply
  4. A relief to know you’ve survived a shocker of a week. But also beautiful to see that child so absorbed in your collection of stories gifted by the grace of God to share. It’s inspiring.

    Reply

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