Plenary, 28 Oct 2009
Meeting date: Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Official Report
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Time for Reflection
Good afternoon, and welcome back from the recess. The first item of business this afternoon is time for reflection and our leader is Father Paul Kelly of St Michael's Roman Catholic church in Linlithgow.
Father Paul Kelly (St Michael's Roman Catholic Church, Linlithgow):
We read these words in the Bible, from the book of Genesis, chapter 12, verse 1:
"The Lord said to Abram, ‘leave your own country, your kinsmen and your father's house and go to a country that I will show you.'"
Abram's father, Terah, had left Ur of the Chaldeans, in modern Iraq, and, presumably following the course of the Euphrates, he settled at Haran, in modern Syria. Abram—later Abraham—was then called to keep moving. He did not know where the promised land was, but he set out anyway, trusting in the one who called him. In the fourth chapter of his letter to the Romans, St Paul sees that as the archetype of faith.
Faith is setting out on a journey without necessarily having any clear idea about where one is going. It is a journey into mystery—into what one might call "the more of life". It is about growing and developing as a human being; it is, perhaps, going in search of our heart's desire. This is also what we mean when we say that we follow Jesus Christ. We follow him along the way of self-giving love into a deeper and richer life. In that process of journeying, growing, developing and searching, we trust in our loving God, who is there with us, guiding, moulding and fashioning us. This is the on-going work of creation: God continues to create us through our experiences for the whole of our lives.
That is fine for those who believe in God, but what is here for those who cannot, intellectually or emotionally, believe in God? The fact is that we live in a world where there are believers and non-believers, and the question of religious belief, or lack of it, affects the way in which we see the world. Can there be effective dialogue between believers and non-believers? Is there a common basis for dialogue? I suggest that there is.
I am reminded of my Welsh atheist uncle, who arranged to have put on his gravestone the words: "My journey ends here." Atheist though he was, he could at least agree that we are on a journey. Even if none of us can be absolutely certain of where we are going, we can at least journey together and nurture a mutual respect for our companions on the way.