Friday 17 June 2022

Today is Friday the 17th June, in the 11th week of Ordinary Time.

Tenebrae, directed by Nigel Short, sing “Joyful Light” from Rachmaninoff’s Vespers. “Joyful light of the holy glory of the immortal one.” As I look around me now, can I sense that light, that holy presence here, and invite God’s joyful light into my life?

Svete tikhyi svyatyya slavy, Bezsmertnago,
Otsa Nebesnago, Svyatago Blazhennago, Iisuse Khriste!
Prishedshe na zapad solntsa, videvshe svet vechernii,
poyem Otsa, Syna i Svyatago Dukha, Boga!
Dostoin esi vo vsya vremena pet byti glasi prepodobnymi,
Syne Bozhii, zhivot dayai, temzhe mir Tya slavit

Gladsome light of the holy glory of the Immortal One,
the Heavenly Father, holy and blessed, O Jesus Christ.
Now that we have come to the setting of the sun and behold the light of evening,
we praise the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God.
Thou art worthy at every moment to be praised in hymns by reverent voices.
O Son of God, thou art the giver of life; therefore all the world glorifies thee.

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 6:19-23

‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
‘The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

In today’s reading we hear Jesus words, ‘For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.'

How is your heart today?

What things is your heart most engaged with or troubled by?
Take a moment to name these things.

Can you identify your treasure? What do you most value in your life?

Share these things with the Lord in a moment of quiet.

Jesus tells us that the eye is the lamp of the body. What we see and absorb can fill us with darkness or light.

Do the things you most focus on draw you towards God’s light or pull you away? Ponder this as you hear the reading once more…

As you finish this time of prayer, turn your gaze towards Christ and his light, spend some time simply bathing in his presence.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.