A Moment to Pause - a short daily audio reflection rooted in Sacred Scripture

Welcome to our reflection today with Pauline Thomas from Anglesey, North Wales.
Welcome to A Moment to Pause today, the 20th of July. In today's gospel Matthew chapter 12, verses 38-42, we hear the Scribes and Pharisees asking Jesus for a sign. We might look for a sign to confirm if we can trust something or someone as being authentic or a fraud, real or a scam. Jesus is strong in his rebuttal. He says an evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet: “Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale, three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth, three days and three nights.” He goes on to say at the Judgment, the people of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. He goes on to point out to them that there is something greater than Jonah here. We are a people on a journey with God who makes all things new. When one is on a journey, one always finds new things. Things one does not know. This scripture questions me: Am I attached to my things, to my ideas? Am I closed? Am I a stationary person or a person on a journey with the God of surprises? Let us ask the Lord for a heart that loves the law. For the law is God's, but for a heart that also loves the God of surprises.Thanks for joining us this morning.

Welcome to our reflection today with Pauline Thomas from Anglesey, North Wales.
Welcome to A Moment to Pause on this, the 19th of July. We hear today in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13, verses 24 to 43, Jesus laying before the crowds, three parables. In the first he likens the kingdom of heaven to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. As the crop grew, the weeds appeared as well. Instructions were given that the weeds were to be left to grow and not to be pulled up, lest the wheat be uprooted with them. At the harvest the weeds would be gathered and burned, but the wheat would be gathered into the barn. The second parable likens the Kingdom of Heaven to a mustard seed that a person sowed in a field.Although the smallest of seeds, it grows to be the largest of plants, and the birds of the sky come and dwell on its branches. The third parable likens the Kingdom of Heaven to yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened. We hear the disciples go back to Jesus, asking him to explain to them the meaning of the parable of the good seed and the weeds. The gift of a parable is that it speaks to the heart of each person in an open ended way. Depending on our life experience, but nevertheless, it holds a precious truth that is worth grappling with. Lord, may your words speak this day to our heart, mind and soul. For they have the power to transform our lives.Thanks for joining us this morning.

Welcome to our reflection today with Pauline Thomas from Anglesey, North Wales.
Welcome to A Moment to Pause, Saturday, the 18th of July. The scripture today comes from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 12, verses 14 to 21, when Jesus realised that the Pharisees had taken counsel against him to put him to death, he withdrew from that place. But even so, people followed him. And the passage says that he cured them all, warning them not to make him known. It struck me how he acted with prudence in the face of the threat and opposition. He, at the same time did not withdraw out of fear from those who came to him in need of healing. Matthew points out Jesus is fulfilling what had been spoken through Isaiah the prophet; “He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets, a bruised reed he will not break. A smoldering wick he will not quench.” This is Jesus, his way to act with gentleness but also firmness. Without shouting or reprimanding, without arrogance or imposition. People are not indifferent to him. He both challenges and attracts. Jesus models for us, his followers, how to walk in his way. Lord, help us to stay united with you in prayer and help us to respond with charity and patience to those whose lives we touched today. Let us pray that today, whatever is in need of healing in our lives will be healed so that we may be made whole through the mercy of God. May the knowledge of your closeness light our way, your way.Thanks for joining us this morning.

Welcome to our reflection today with Pauline Thomas from Anglesey, North Wales.
Welcome to A Moment to Pause. Today's scripture reading is from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 12, verses 1 to 8. Jesus was going through a field of grain on the Sabbath, and his disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. On seeing this, the Pharisees confronted Jesus, saying, “See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the Sabbath.”Jesus reminds them of the words of the prophet Hosea: “Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” If they understood these words, Jesus says, they would not have condemned these innocent men. He goes on to tell them, “I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.” Jesus returns the focus once again to the loyalty of a heart that recognises its need of healing and forgiveness, that mends its ways and returns with a humble, loving heart to the heart of God. Mercy takes the first place for Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath. Let us pray that today, whatever is in need of healing in our lives will be healed so that we may be made whole through the mercy of God.Thanks for joining us this morning.

Welcome to A Moment to Pause this Thursday 16th of July. How wonderful it is in everyday life when we actually have a moment to pause, to take some time out for yourself, a moment to slow down, to take a breather. These are always welcome and precious moments in our day when we can experience, even if fleetingly, a sense of stillness, peace and calm. 
In today's scripture reading from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 11:28-30, Jesus invites us, saying, “Come to me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” So much of life can be a series of tasks to be completed, appointments to attend, or simply struggling to get through the day or night where responsibilities, anxieties, sickness and loss can leave us with a feeling of life being an uphill struggle. 
My daughter, a young mother, asked me, “does it get easier?” I had to answer her honestly - “Well, it just changes.” But for me, I have found that when I invite the Lord into the toil, the struggle, the striving, when I'm troubled or weighed down or feel overloaded or fraught, that this does change things. Where I am given the graces I need to not feel overburdened, or where a sense of unexpected ease, peace, stillness and calmness floods in unexpectedly. So, Lord Jesus, help us this day to lean on you, to uphold us and refresh us with your saving help. Amen.
Thanks for joining us this morning.

Welcome to our reflection today with Pauline Thomas from Anglesey, North Wales.
Welcome to a Moment to Pause on this Wednesday 15th of July. Today's scripture reading is from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 11, verses 25 to 27. In the gospel we hear Jesus praising the father, saying, “I give you praise Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, for though you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, father, such has been your gracious will.” We hear from Jesus that a childlike disposition presents the most favourable condition that is receptive and responsive to the love of God, most open to the Holy Spirit. When I think of a little child, I see someone who has an open heart, boundless curiosity, simple and trusting, who lives with a sense of wonder. Let us pray that we live this day with these childlike qualities, with an open heart, with a readiness to receive the graces, to live this day well and with a sense of wonder as God reveals his love to each one of us. May God's light shine through to those around us.Thanks for joining us this morning.
 

Hello dear friend and welcome to our reflection today with Pauline Thomas from Anglesey, North Wales.
Welcome to A Moment To Pause.Today's scripture reading is from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 11, verses 20 to 24.Yesterday we reflected on Jesus' passionate call to a whole hearted response to his invitation into relationship. And in today's Gospel, we hear how he began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done since they had not repented. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes.”Jesus is clear, direct, challenging, and passionate in what he is saying to see through his eyes with his vision, to think again, to turn around and follow in his way with total trust and faith. And then we will surely live anew in the grace that living his new life brings us.Lord, grace us this day to see afresh through the eyes of Christ, and then to respond to the happeningsof the day with unwavering fervour and faithfulness to the promptings of the Holy Spirit within us. Just for today.Come, Holy Spirit. Amen

Hello dear friend and welcome to our reflection today with Pauline Thomas from Anglesey, North Wales.
Welcome to A Moment To Pause, I'm Pauline Thomas from Anglesey, North Wales, and will be with youthrough this coming week.Today's Gospel for this, the 15th week in Ordinary Time, is from the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter10: verses 34 - 11:1.On a first reading of this passage, it seems difficult and challenging. Where Jesus says, “Whoever loves father or mother or son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up his cross is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”But for me, this is rather Jesus calling me to enter completely into this passionate and intimate relationship that he is offering me. Once I have given myself over to this all consuming love of God, I will be living a new life in Christ,alive in the Spirit. If I live this new life, I will receive the graces I need to help me love those who Christ loves.He goes on to say, “Whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink. Amen, I say to you, he surely will not lose his reward.”Let us pray, then, that we are graced to live this day in the life of Christ wholeheartedly and with love. Amen.

You are most welcome to join our reflection today with Pat Hughes from Birkenhead.
Good morning and welcome to our Oblate moment to pause . Today, Sunday 12thJuly , our Gospel reading is Matthew 13:1-23 : the Parable of the Sower.The parable of the sower is an image used by Jesus to explain how different people respond to the Word of God.A few days ago I mentioned that the outcome when sharing the Good News is not the responsibility of the sharer. This parable confirms  that the true harvest depends on the condition of our own spiritual soil.As I grow older I recognise that my soil changes along my journey in life with its ups and downs, and that with repeated ‘tilling’ of my soil, by searching and persevering in prayer, God’s good news sinks in and takes root .So, for me, I alone , am responsible for the tilling and composting of my soil .So if you do not take the Word to heart, or hear it but have no root and the Word falls away through trouble or persecution, or choked out by worldly issues, then there is no harvest . But , if heard and taken to heart, then there will be a good harvest from your good soil.Lord I ask that we all enjoy and persevere with the gardening of our ears , heart and mind .Have a blessed Sunday and thank you for sharing with the Oblates 
And thank you for joining in this moment to pause .

You are most welcome to join our reflection today with Pat Hughes from Birkenhead.
Good morning to everyone, on Saturday 11 July and welcome to share our Oblate moment to pause in a reflection based on today’s Gospel from Matthew 10:24-33In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy SpiritThis passage is a call to fearless faith. It wasn’t easy reading for me but having reflected on its meaning I obtained a better understanding.Jesus starts by warning the disciples that they are not above their master. The meaning of this is that if Jesus can be rejected they will experience this too.I am sure many of us have had such an experience.Jesus then puts this into perspective by saying to “not fear those who can kill the body but not kill the soul “ so calling us to prioritise spiritual integrity and eternal truths over any temporary judgments or hostility of society.We can surrender our anxieties by remembering the reassurance that God provides for the sparrows and that “you are worth much more”so all are deeply intimately known and valued by God.Let us prayLord:
It is enough for me to be like Jesus. I am made in the image of God. I pray that I may bear in mind how deeply I am honoured and blessed by God’s love for me.
Have a blessed day
And thank you for joining in this moment to pause .