An online Community for Prayerful Scripture Reflection.
During this time, when many of our usual ways of expressing our Faith have been removed, and we can no longer gather together due to the Coronavirus, it is all the more important that we find ways to invest in our relationships with God and each other.
Here is one small way that we can communicate our faith and support each other whilst encouraging daily prayer with a Scriptural focus. It is also a great way for people who are usually involved with Metanoia Project groups and events to keep in touch and continue to feel part of the Metanoia family as well as the wider Church community.
God wants to speak to us all and has given us His Word as a constant source of life and relationship with Him. The aim of this group is to encourage each other to spend time each day praying with Scripture and allowing God to speak to us. Please then share your thoughts, questions and reflections to help us all hear from our Loving Father.
Metanoia Project ‘The God Who Speaks’ Scripture Reflection Group
Gospel for Tuesday 26th January 2021: Mark 3:31-35
The mother and brothers of Jesus arrived and, standing outside, sent in a message asking for him. A crowd was sitting round him at the time the message was passed to him, ‘Your mother and brothers and sisters are outside asking for you.’ He replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking round at those sitting in a circle about him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother.’
Gospel for Monday 25th January 2021: Mark 16:15-18
Feast of the Conversion of Saul
Jesus showed himself to the Eleven and said to them:
‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned. These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover.’
Tonight at 22:00 Monday The Joyful Mysteries. Praying for our front line workers to keep them safe from the virus and for the sick that they may be healed. For our brothers and sisters in Christ and for all the lost Sheep that they may come to know God. For all those who have died from the virus and for their families. For the homeless that they are kept safe from the virus and from the evil that wonder the streets. That they may find somewhere warm and dry to sleep.
From Bishop Robert Barron's reflection. Monday, January 25, 2021 FEAST OF THE CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL MARK 16:15-18 Friends, today in our Gospel, Jesus commissions the Apostles to evangelize all people: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature." To evangelize is to proclaim Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead. When this kerygma, this Paschal Mystery, is not at the heart of the project, Christian evangelization effectively disappears, devolving into a summons to bland religiosity or generic spirituality. When Jesus crucified and risen is not proclaimed, a beige and unthreatening Catholicism emerges, a thought system that is, at best, an echo of the environing culture. Peter Maurin, one of the founders of the Catholic Worker movement, said that the Church has taken its own dynamite and placed it in hermetically sealed containers and sat on the lid. In a similar vein, Protestant theologian Stanley Hauerwas commented that the problem with Christianity is not that it is socially conservative or politically liberal, but that "it is just too damned dull"! For both Maurin and Hauerwas, what leads to this attenuation is a refusal to preach the dangerous and unnerving news concerning Jesus risen from the dead.
**Gospel for Sunday 24th January 2021, 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B: Mark 1:14-20**
**As it is Sunday, after the Gospel passage you will find a few points to consider, and the thoughts on how we can apply today’s Gospel to our lives today. We hope you will find it useful!**
After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the Good News from God. ‘The time has come’ he said ‘and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.’
As he was walking along by the Sea of Galilee he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net in the lake – for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you into fishers of men.’ And at once they left their nets and followed him.
Going on a little further, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they too were in their boat, mending their nets. He called them at once and, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the men he employed, they went after him.
**Reflection**
Today we are reminded of Jesus' first words in His ministry. The Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the good news. Metanoia! It's a constant reminder that our lives need to be continually retuned to God, that our hearts need to be cleansed and our minds need to be recentred and fixed on Christ. This metanoia, for me, is not a one -off event, but part of my faith journey, growing closer to the Lord.
People often begin a New Year making resolutions to change their ways. These can often be well meaning but can also be soon forgotten about. The Ministry of Jesus is a wake up call to all of us to change our lives and conform our ways to Christ.
How did the first followers of Jesus respond to this invitation of a new life? It was an instant, unquestioning trust in Jesus. It always amazes me no matter how many times I read this passage that these simple fishermen leave everything behind without seemingly a second thought and follow Jesus. Surely their minds were full of doubts, concerns or queries? Would I have reacted in the same way when asked to follow? Indeed when God calls me in a direction or asks me to Metanoia and follow Him, how do I respond? Is it with complete surrender, abandonment and whole hearted trust in the Saviour of the world? Or is it an answer filled with fear or anxiety? Should I? Could I? What if? These questions can plague us and cause us to stumble in our mission. Deepening our prayer life and daily reflections on the Word can help us to place our trust more firmly in Jesus. Each day we need to commit ourselves to Metanoia so that we can become more Christ - centred, a great challenge indeed.
My prayer this week echoes the Psalm from today, Teach me your ways O Lord, so that I may know you more clearly, love you more dearly and follow you more nearly day by day. Amen.
- Jonathan
**Gospel for Saturday 23rd January 2021: Mark 3:20-21**
Jesus went home, and once more such a crowd collected that they could not even have a meal. When his relatives heard of this, they set out to take charge of him, convinced he was out of his mind.
Tonight at 22:30 Saturday The Joyful Mysteries. Praying for our front line workers to keep them safe from the virus and for the sick that they may be healed. For our brothers and sisters in Christ and for all the lost Sheep that they may come to know God. For all those who have died from the virus and for their families. For the homeless that they are kept safe from the virus and from the evil that wonder the streets. That they may find somewhere warm and dry to sleep.
From Bishop Robert Barron's reflection. Saturday, January 23, 2021 SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME MARK 3:20-21 Friends, in today’s Gospel, relatives of Jesus claim that he is mad. In cases like this, the basic problem is always the fearful ego. Ego-addicts know that sometimes the best defense is a good offense. If you want to protect the ego and its prerogatives, you must oppress and demoralize those around you. There is a very unsubtle version of this method: you attack, put down, insult, and undermine those around you. This is the method of the bully. But the religious version is much subtler and thus more insidious and dangerous. It takes the law itself—especially the moral law—and uses it to accuse and oppress. “I know what’s right and wrong; I know what the Church expects of us; and I know that you are not living up to it.” And so I accuse you; I gossip about you; I remind you of your inadequacy. Mind you, this is not to condemn the legitimate exercise of fraternal correction or the office of preaching. But it’s a reminder not to be sucked into the slavery of ego addiction. We must stay alert to this and avoid it at all costs.
**Gospel for Friday 22nd January 2021: Mark 3:13-19**
Jesus went up into the hills and summoned those he wanted. So they came to him and he appointed twelve; they were to be his companions and to be sent out to preach, with power to cast out devils. And so he appointed the Twelve: Simon to whom he gave the name Peter, James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Boanerges or ‘Sons of Thunder’; then Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, the man who was to betray him.
Tonight at 22:30 Friday The Sorrowful Mysteries. Praying for our front line workers to keep them safe from the virus and for the sick that they may be healed. For our brothers and sisters in Christ and for all the lost Sheep that they may come to know God. For all those who have died from the virus and for their families. For the homeless that they are kept safe from the virus and from the evil that wonder the streets. That they may find somewhere dry and warm to sleep.
From Bishop Robert Barron's reflection. Friday, January 22, 2021 DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE LEGAL PROTECTION OF UNBORN CHILDREN MARK 3:13-19 Friends, today in the Gospel, Jesus appoints twelve Apostles “that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach.” St. Thérèse of Lisieux tells us that she endeavored to write down her spiritual memoir at the prompting of her sister, who was also her religious superior to whom she was bound in obedience. After praying that she say nothing displeasing to Christ, she took up the Gospel of Mark, and her eyes fell on these words: “He went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him.” This verse, she says, is the interpretive key to her life, for it describes the way Christ has worked in her soul: “He does not call those who are worthy, but those whom he pleases.” Hers was a story of a divine love, graciously willing the good of the other, that awakens an imitative reaction in the one who is loved. It is not a narrative of economic exchange—rewards for worthiness—but of the loop of grace, unmerited love engendering disinterested love, the divine life propagating itself in what is other.
**Gospel for Thursday 21st January 2021: Mark 3:7-12**
Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lakeside, and great crowds from Galilee followed him. From Judaea, Jerusalem, Idumaea, Transjordania and the region of Tyre and Sidon, great numbers who had heard of all he was doing came to him. And he asked his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, to keep him from being crushed. For he had cured so many that all who were afflicted in any way were crowding forward to touch him. And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, would fall down before him and shout, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But he warned them strongly not to make him known.
Tonight at 22:00 Thursday The Mysteries of Light. Praying for our front line workers to keep them safe from the virus and for the sick that they may be healed. For our brothers and sisters in Christ and for all the lost Sheep that they may come to know God. For all those who have died from their families. For the homeless that they are kept safe from the virus and from the evil that wonder the streets and that they may find somewhere warm and dry to stay.
From Bishop Robert Barron's reflection. Thursday, January 21, 2021 MEMORIAL OF SAINT AGNES MARK 3:7-12 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus cured so many people that he had to climb into a boat to escape the press of the crowd. To this day the Church carries on his gracious healing ministry. We recall that the Apostles of Jesus simply continued what the Master did. And one of the principal marks of the Lord’s ministry was clearly healing. There was, of course, a deep biblical conviction that when the day of the Lord arrives, creation would be set right. What we witness in the healings of Jesus is just this repairing of creation. If you doubt that miracles of physical healing still take place in the life of the Church, I invite you to read Craig Keener’s book Miracles or visit the Church in Africa, Asia, or Latin America, where the expectation of the miraculous is taken for granted. But the Church also brings healing to mind, soul, will, and imagination. The Bible knows that sin has done tremendous damage to us, and anyone involved in pastoral ministry knows what this looks like: broken minds, divided hearts, addicted passions.
Gospel for Wednesday 20th January 2021: Mark 3:1-6
Jesus went into a synagogue, and there was a man there who had a withered hand. And they were watching him to see if he would cure him on the sabbath day, hoping for something to use against him. He said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Stand up out in the middle!’ Then he said to them, ‘Is it against the law on the sabbath day to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to kill?’ But they said nothing. Then, grieved to find them so obstinate, he looked angrily round at them, and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out and his hand was better. The Pharisees went out and at once began to plot with the Herodians against him, discussing how to destroy him.
Tonight at 22:00 Wednesday The Glorious Mysteries. Praying for our front line workers to keep them safe from the virus and for the sick that they may be healed. For our brothers and sisters in Christ and for all the lost Sheep that they may come to know God. For all those who have died from the virus and for their families. For the homeless that they are kept safe from the virus and from the evil that wonder the streets. That they may have somewhere warm and dry to stay.
From Bishop Robert Barron's reflection. Wednesday, January 20, 2021 SECOND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME MARK 3:1-6 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus withstands the opposition of the Pharisees to heal a man with a withered hand. His healings signify the arrival of the kingdom of God. When Jesus began to preach, his theme was that the kingdom of God is at hand. In his own person an entirely new way of ordering things was on offer. Then—in his love and nonviolence, in his confrontation with the Pharisees and religious establishment, in his healing and teaching—Jesus was demonstrating precisely what the reign of the God of Israel looks like. This way of life inevitably awakened the opposition of the powers that be. At the climax of his ministry, Jesus faced down the resistance of "the world," to use the typical New Testament term, meaning that whole congeries of cruelty, betrayal, denial, violence, corruption, and hatred by which human affairs are typically ordered. He permitted all of that darkness to wash over him, to crush him, to snuff him out. But then, on the third day, he rose again from the dead in the power of the Holy Spirit, and thereby outflanked, outmaneuvered, and swallowed up the darkness. Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, PO Box 170, Des Plaines, IL 60016, United States Manage Your Email Preferences . .
It was great to spend an evening of food, fellowship and a few dodgy jokes with some of the Thursday Night group. Most weeks we spend time sharing in small groups but it was fantastic to relax together and get to know each other in a more social environment. That’s it for the summer now but we look forward to seeing everyone in September
Our Advent Series exploring the Canticles at the beginning of Luke’s Gospel was a great success. We had four very different speakers who each inspired us with their teaching, testimony and deep faith. 
On 10th November 2017, a packed St.Wilfrid’s Church in Preston witnessed the dramatic production of, ‘Romero- Heartbeat of El Salvador’ brought to us by RISE Theatre. The play told the story of Blessed Oscar Romero who became Archbishop of San Salvador. He was assassinated on Monday March 24th 1980 as he was celebrating Mass in the chapel of the Divine Providence cancer hospital where he lived.