Sue’s Monday Morning Meditations Beyond - St. Brendan 07/29/2024
Today’s Listening on the Journey … post challenges us to travel with our dreams “beyond the familiar” and into the mysterious ways of faith. Read more …
Scripture:
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess …. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16 (NIV)
Comments:
Napoleon Hill in 1937 authored the enormously popular-to-this-day self-help book “Think and Grow Rich.” One of Hill’s famous quotes is “'Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” There is no doubt that the human mind is powerful. It has over the millennia conceived, believed, and achieved great things—both for good and for evil.
But what if you feel certain your dream requires more than conceiving a great idea, believing intensely in your vision, and working enormously hard to achieve it?
A few days ago, a young woman with whom I have been working in spiritual direction for several years disclosed such a dream. As she was sharing her dream, I thought about a remarkable Irish Catholic priest who lived in the 6th Century.
Many fables have arisen about Brendan, but according to church history, this young man, along with several of his disciples, sought to spread the message of Jesus throughout the British Isles in a most remarkable and daring way.
Setting out in a coracle, a small wooden boat navigated with oars, the men had no idea where they were going. They realized entering the fierce waters of the Irish coast was perilous. Their only request was the Holy Spirit would guide them to where God meant them to go.
Brendan and his followers did more than conceive, believe, and achieve. As committed followers of Jesus, their “high priest,” they did what the writer of the book of Hebrews advised early followers of Jesus to do (See today’s Scripture). They approached God’s throne of grace with great boldness and confidence.
Prayer:
Prayer of St. Brendan, the Navigator
Help me to journey beyond the familiar
and into the unknown.
Give me the faith to leave old ways
and break fresh ground with You.
Christ of the mysteries, I trust You
to be stronger than each storm within me.
I will trust in the darkness and know
that my times, even now, are in Your hand.
Tune my spirit to the music of heaven,
and somehow, make my obedience count for You.
Amen
Reflection Question(s):
Do you hold a special dream in your heart that you know will take you beyond the familiar and plunge you into the unknown?
How might the counsel in Hebrews 4:16 and the example of St. Brendan help build your faith?
Blessings on your meditations this Monday!
