Living Stones

Places and objects have significance and are precious to us. Pounamu given to us by a loved one or a group we’ve belonged to continues to connect us to them even years later.

Rosary beads we may carry around in our pocket given to us by a close family member connects us to them and the power of prayer to unite us still.

We touch places, rocks, even kiss the ground perhaps to connect the living to the past and the past to the present.

We touch headstones to connect with our loved ones who have died trusting that they are in that place prepared for them as Jesus reminds us in the Gospel from John 14:1-12, 'I am going now to prepare a place for you.

I remember visiting Anderson’s Bay in Dunedin and touching the Rongo stone unveiled on March 22, 1987 by the Governor General Sir Paul Reeves to acknowledge the people from Parihaka that were exiled in Dunedin and built the local causeway. Their spirit and their witness continue to inspire.

In the chapel in Fourviere, France, where the early Marists made promises before the Black Madonna to found the Society of Mary there is earth from Aotearoa in a glass cabinet inside the chapel to commemorate the internment of Bishop Pompallier at Motuti. A deep and significant connection from across the seas and across the years. There is a living tradition in all of it.

St Peter refers to us in the second reading in today's liturgy as living stones, and Christ as the key stone. Therefore, each one of us has incredible dignity and we are precious in God’s sight just as Jesus is precious in the Father's eyes.

Christ is the living stone, the keystone and many of us gather today to sing the praises of God with each other to acknowledge Jesus and his presence among us. He is part of us and we are part of him and together we make up a spiritual house.  All our ancestors within the Church have made their way and their contribution in building up the spiritual house and we continue to make our way because we like them believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. In identifying ourselves with him and following his way we too will be taken to that place where he is and see him face to face. That is our Easter hope.

In the meantime, when we connect with him in prayer and in those human encounters with one another that move and inspire us we touch him, we connect with his living presence and we allow him to touch us, to heal us, to calm our fears.

We heard his living Word in the Gospel encouraging us not let our hearts be troubled but to continue to trust in him.

If there are pressing things in our lives causing us anxiety and in the lives of people we know may these words comfort us this morning and throughout the week.   

The song I am sharing with you links with the reading from St Peter, 1Peter 2:4-9, 'To sing the praises of God'

Blessings on your week