Dear Fathers, Friends in Christ,
1 Samuel 3:1-10, 19-20
Psalm 40:2 and 5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10
Mark 1:29-39
Jesus Moves On
Anton Chekhov once wrote a play called The Cherry Orchard. It was a story about a family that had a good opportunity to save their property but just could not let their cherry orchard be changed into land for summer homes. In the end they had to let their property go, and the cherry orchard was cut down.
How different is Jesus' manner today! He could have spent the rest of His life building a little kingdom for Himself, just preaching and healing there. Instead, He moves on. In this way, He gives us an example to be always ready to move on.
This is not easy for us to do. Like the family in Chekhov's play, we want to find our roots in the familiar, in what gave us security in the past. Here, too, our Lord has given us an example: He prays. Short of a life of prayer that seeks a heart in communion with God, we cannot let go of what had given us security, to go to a new land that God wants to show us. As St. John of the Cross prayed, "Good and well Lord, if all things change, as long as our roots are in you." Only if we have our roots in God, can we let God guide us to put our roots in new venues to witness to the growth of His kingdom.
Father Ed Bakker
Anglican Catholic Church / Original Province
Mission of Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne
Bendigo
Australia
