Photo was taken at Flatanger, north West Norway

A seagull makes off in speed and style with some food.

Thought on Sunday – January – 15/01/2012

The following reflection is written by Triona Doherty

You can tell a lot about a person from where they live. We like to see how people live and to try and work out what their living arrangements and style tells us about them. As children when we made friends, it was a big step to be invited to the home of someone from our class. No matter how close you were in the schoolyard, going to someone else’s house was a way of cementing the friendship and getting to know the other person on another level. It is how friendships were forged.
As I’ve got older, I’ve always enjoyed visiting the home of a friend for the first time after they’ve moved house. I love the way the same bits and pieces find their home so easily in another place, and how that person’s character comes across in the new space. I love how a certain atmosphere and warmth can transfer from one home to another, just because the same person inhabits it.


‘Come and see.’ It’s such an intimate invitation. These new disciples on today’s Gospel ask their teacher a simple question – Where do you live? – and he responds with an invitation to ‘come and see’. So the disciples tag along. They must have been made very welcome, as they end up staying with Jesus for the rest of the day. This precious early time with Jesus must have set them up for a lifetime of discipleship. We don’t know where Jesus lived, or what his living arrangements were, as he set about the early days of his mission. But we know he wanted to invite his disciples to spend time in his presence and to really get to know him.