Fr John’s Reflection 18th Sunday of the Year

How do I get to the other side

I am often reminded of the conversation between two people on opposite sides of the road. One calls out to the other, “How do I get to the other side?” The person responds, “You are on the other side!” Sometimes this can be our experience of prayer, that somehow if we cross over into a different realm we will be more present to God and God will be more present to us. Yet the truth is more dynamic when we hear Jesus say, the Kingdom of God is within you. This is the most surprising and stunning revelations that we find it hard to wrap our minds around it. We tend to have a false understanding that God is far distant from our experience much like Better Midler’s song, “From a distance, God is watching us!” Yet this is not the truth of the incarnation. God breaches the gap to draw us closer.
The pilgrimage of life, therefore, is not one of travelling from one place to another but discovering how God is present in our day to day lives. Our prayer seeks to help us rest in that place where God has always been. God seeks us out not to just know about but to be known by that life-giving Spirit which wells up inside us and calls us to be our true selves. Trust yourself to God in prayer today!

Fr. John Armstrong