Photo was taken at Garretstown, Co.Cork (Irl)

The sky was quite dark but there was enough room for the sun to squeeze through some lovely rays of light on the waves rolling in.

Thought on Sunday – October – 30/09/2012

The following reflection is by Triona Doherty

Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP spoke recently (at the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin) of the importance of pop music for young people.

“For young people today, popular music is of vast importance in articulating their sense of hope and joy and also sometimes their sorrow and distress. Surely, if we are to attend to them with compassion, then we must value that music, open our ears to it, and catch its nuances. We must give thanks to the composers and singers who offer our young water in the desert. Surely we must be open to the creativity of popular music and accept its gifts.” How refreshing to think that goodness and inspiration can come from the most unexpected of sources.

The disciples receive a lesson in openness today. ‘Not one of us’ is how they refer to the man from outside the group who is claiming to work ‘in the name of Jesus’. But Jesus responds with a different way of looking at things: ‘Whoever is not against us is for us,’ he advises. Don’t knock anyone’s faith. How receptive are we to the many voices we hear and to the people we come across from day to day? Are we tuned in so we can hear and appreciate goodness and wisdom in their many different guises? Fr Radcliffe talks of being ‘open to creativity’. We must let the Spirit move as it will, and keep our eyes and ears peeled.