Thought for the week
I ONCE taught in an inner city school in Liverpool after many years teaching really keen girls in classes of 50 in Tanzania. Nothing could have prepared me for the Liverpool experience.
The children came from the surrounding tenements and there was daily violence in the air. However, I remember so well 13-year old Lorraine, who truly inspired me.
We were reflecting on the hymn, “Morning Has Broken” in RE. I asked the class if any word or line had particularly struck them. Only Lorraine stood up saying that she liked the line ‘sprung in completeness where his feet passed’.
Without realising it Lorraine had discovered a great truth: that wherever Jesus passes he brings wholeness and completion. I like to imagine him walking through the countryside, always with a smile on his face, always looking out for those on the margins, the sick the blind, mothers, children with whom he would have instant contact. He surely played with them and they knew themselves loved. The feet of Jesus are still passing. As St Teresa said: God has no feet but yours. We may, if we wish, walk this world with his feet, and also with his smile, his open heart, his love, friendship and compassion.
Many people question the reality of God in face of all the suffering in the world. But we know that he is there in the love and kindness of all who help others, as in Beirut right now. All who truly follow his way play a definite role in making the world that bit more whole and complete. There is much hidden wisdom in the hearts of our young people. Let us listen and really ‘hear’ them.