“The small word ‘as’ is one of the most important in the Bible”
- Fr. Nigel Woollen “The Father Wants to Heal You” p.77
I came across this quote during the week while reading Fr. Woollen’s book. The book has a sub-heading, ‘A Retreat with the Lord’s Prayer’, and is the result of his reflection on the ‘Our Father’ and what it means. Usually, the quotes we see focus on a particular subject or topic but this sentence struck me because it highlights how one small word can be so effective in teaching or highlighting something important.
In the ‘Our Father’ we come across it twice — firstly, in the petition ‘thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ and, secondly, ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us’. There is plenty to reflect on in those two petitions that we pray every time we pray the ‘Our Father’.
Shortly after reading this sentence in the book, I began looking at the readings for this Sunday to prepare for preaching after the Gospel and what jumped out at me was the word ‘as’ again!
‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.’
‘If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.’
‘Love one another, as I have loved you.’
Then the Gospel continues with Jesus developing those three statements as he speaks to his disciples.
The ‘small word’ as allows us to see how we are called to live in the light of our faith in the God who ‘is love’.
I decided to share this with you to highlight the importance of realising that no matter how often we look at scripture, reflect on a passage or engage with a prayer there is never a time when we can say that we have come to the end of exploring what is offered to us. The Spirit is constantly prompting us through the experiences we have to listen with fresh ears and look with fresh eyes and bring the message of God’s love and mercy to the world around us in fresh ways, cutting through the ‘noise’ of a world that, more and more, moving away from the ‘good news’ of the Lord and focusing on the ‘I’.