Dear friends of the word! What a moments must that had been?! Catched at commiting adultery and draged to Jesus. She knows: at that time she is expecting a death sentence. To be stoned! Her life will be over only in a few hours! What a need! And then these many people! They are watching so curious and so self-righteous. “How can you do something like that?” they might have thought. “Something like that must been punished very hard...otherwise everything gets weaking!” others will be added. So she is standing there, guilty – extradited – fearly shaking – naked from the views and words of the others.

August 2009

Dear friends of the word! “Did you know?” – I heard at the phone – “they were having a child for more than ten years ago. It came out that the child would have a Down-Syndrom very early at the pregnancy. From the beginning on it was clear to the parents that they wanted the baby. Both of them were having a job – in a poor country of our world, living in Bosnia. The mother quit her job – for the child. So it was clear that they would have a poor life. The doctors gave the child only a few years to live. But now it turns already 15 years old! The love of the parents had let their child staying alive. Now it is really sick. And I visited this family! The mother had given so much throu the years, just to be there for the child. She gave everything, just like Jesus did and tought us. And her soul I didn’t feel any grief or bitternes – but a deep joy and even deeper love.”

July 2009

Dear friends of the word! What a pity! A wedding was comming up. Guests had come for a couple of days from far away and then this message: the wine had run out! A shame for the young couple and the organizing family. Such an experience will stay forever in mind of the guests and the further environment. Even after years they will talk about them, even give them names like “the nonwiners!”. ...

  June 2009

Dear friends of the word!

I ringed at the door of a family who moved to Germany from the Near East a few years ago. “Nur” was the name of the 11-years old daughter of the family – came happily to open the door. She made lauds of happiness. She wasn’t able to speak, because she was deaf.

Jesus first began travelling around preaching the message of the Kingdom of God when he was about 30. Before that, he had a relatively normal life with his relatives in Nazareth. He began by preaching in all the local villages around the Sea of Galilee, and quickly became famous. People would travel from far away in huge numbers to hear and experience him. Jesus was often so busy he didn’t even have the time to stop and eat with his disciples.

 OnWord October 08

Mary Magdalen was a woman who longed for love and acceptance, searching for a place to belong. Luke says that she was cured of seven demons (Luke 8:2), so it was likely that she was not accepted by the society of her time. And having seven demons, she probably didn’t have too many healthy normal friendships with people.

What a crowd! All the customs officers and sinners had heard Jesus. And now they wanted to hear and see HIM personally. The fine, devout and learned people only sent angry views. Obviously they had made mistakes in their lives or took someone else’s money. Now they hadn’t had any more chances to find back into the “good” society – even if they wanted to. And Jesus? Would He tell His message only to the devoutly and “clean” people of the middle-class?

Welcome to our "take Jesus at his word" reflections. This project was initated by Fr Meinolf Wacker of Paderborn, Germany. These cards are sent out, all over the world, and young people gather in small groups to reflect on the meaning in thier lives.

Sandhurst has a special link with Paderborn, and as well as inviting about 300 young people to our diocese before WYD, we are encouraging all registered pilgrims to reflect on scripture.  Through this program, reflecting the same way our German family do,  we hope to forge greater links between our young people in the two dioceses.

Fr Meinolf's reflection is below...