nation only, but also would die in order to gather into one the scattered children of God. So, from that day on, they were determined to kill him. Because of this, Jesus no longer moved about freely among the Jews. He withdrew instead to the country near the wilderness, and stayed with his disciples in a town called Ephraim. The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and people from everywhere were coming to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover. They looked for Jesus and, as they stood in the temple, they talked with one another, “What do you think? Will he come to the festival?”

Reflections
I SHALL MAKE MY HOME AT THEIR SIDE
This promise of God is the promise of abiding presence in our lives. Actually God does not have to promise this or need to fulfill this promise because God is not only present to us, we are permeated by the divine which is the ground of our being. Actually the promise might be that we become aware of this presence, this all ABIDING PRESENCE. It is we who are not at home in the depths of our being. I think the most effective way of coming to this awareness is by meditation. If we are told that there is a gold mine in our garden, we will not search for it with a spoon or even a spade. We would use a drill to arrive fastest at our goal. This is what meditation does. It helps us to go into the depths of our being to discover the Divine that has always been there, establish a communion and allow this communion to steer the direction of our lives. We are distracted by many things especially in our current situation. There is too much noise, there are too many pictures, a deluge of information, changing experiences that capture our attention. It is important that we regularly seek solitude and in silence and meditation we dive into that center of our being where God is at home.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2018