A Prayer and a Reflection for March 5, 2023,
2nd Sunday of Lent, Year A
Prayer
God of all people,
the faith of the disciples
enabled them to see beyond appearances
and recognise Jesus as your beloved Son.
Strengthen our faith too in the person and message of Jesus.
May the light of what he tells us
help us to see clearly how to spread your justice and love
among all those we meet.
May we meet the sufferings and joys of life
with hope.
May we give witness
that our faith is about good news of joy and light and life.
May our faith be strengthened,
to help us grow in our love for one another.
Reflection
Today's extract from Psalm 32 or 33, ends with the words
"we hope in you, O Lord".
That can be a difficult thing for many of us to do,
and the reason is obvious.
Just think for a moment
about all that is happening in our world today,
from the destruction of people and homes, due to war,
to the destruction of the natural world, due to us.
Then there are all our own troubles
and those of our friends and families.
It's not easy to keep our hope alive amidst all of this.
Whenever such events start to overwhelm me,
I am reminded of stories such as the following.
A boy by the name of Douglas Maurer, aged 15,
had been feeling unwell for several days.
His mother took him to the hospital
where he was diagnosed as having leukaemia.
The doctors told him in frank terms about his disease.
They said that for the next 3 years,
he would have to undergo chemotherapy.
They didn't sugar-coat the side effects.
They told Douglas he would go bald,
and that his body would most likely bloat.
Upon learning this, he went into a deep depression.
His Aunt phoned a flower shop
to send Douglas an arrangement of flowers.
She told the woman who answered the phone
that it was for her teenage nephew who had leukaemia.
When the flowers arrived at the hospital, they were beautiful.
Douglas read the card from his Aunt without emotion.
Then he noticed a second card. It said:
"Douglas - I took your order.
I work at this flower shop.
I had leukaemia when I was seven years old.
I'm now 22.
Good luck. My heart goes out to you.
Sincerely, Laura Bradley."
Douglas' face lit up and he said: "Wow."
Douglas was in a hospital filled with millions of dollars
of the most sophisticated technological equipment.
He was being treated by expert doctors,
and nurses with competent medical training.
But it was a sales clerk in a flower shop,
a young woman making $170 a week,
who, by taking the time to care,
and by being willing to go with what her heart told her to do,
gave Douglas hope to carry on.
That story about the effect Laura had on Douglas
is a reminder to us of how having hope
can help us to cope with life.
Sometimes by doing something quite ordinary,
perhaps just bringing someone a smile,
we may be able to help them to have hope.
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