Last week my mother who is 87 years old, fell over in her room and broke her shoulder and her hip. This resulted in a hip replacement operation and the necessary medical treatment of her shoulder.
Mum lives about 2000 miles or just under 4,000 kilometres away. At first there was a very alarming message concerning the accident from my brother. This was followed by phone calls back to family seeking any information they had about Mum’s welfare.
I didn’t know if I should fly immediately to see mum or in a few days when more was known, or when her recovery was further down the track.
On top of this I was speaking at a daylong Catholic Guy event that had been advertised and many people were coming. I would have cancelled without hesitation if family members had said that things were urgent enough that I should go immediately.
Mum has been virtually asleep constantly since the operation and while I want to see her I find myself constantly asking if this is the right time to go. She is slowly coming good I am told, which is wonderful but I still would love to see her myself.
On top of this my wife Rosemary is not well and cannot drive at the moment. She also has been in out of hospital and seeing doctors and having tests.
What is the right thing to do?
So often life’s decisions are just not easy.
Jesus said, ‘take this cross away from me but Father, not my will but your will be done.’
Knowing the right way to follow Jesus is challenging in certain circumstances.
When faced with these dilemmas it is good to know that prayer, discernment of others and listening to God in our heart is the very best we can do.
God loves a devoted heart and watches over us no matter what decisions we make. This gives us a confidence and peace that we can live by.
ACTION: Where do you need to make the best decision you can and then decide to be at peace with that decision?
GOSPEL READING: Matthew 26: 14-25
Don’t forget to comment below.
G’day Bruce … good to see you again 🙂
I came across your ad on Facebook yesterday
and signed up straight away!
Thank you for your very refreshing insights in the midst of the busyness and preparations of Holy Week.
Thank you for sharing your God-given gifts and wisdom with us!
I look forward to future instalments 🙂
Peace and a blessed Holy Week and Easter to you and your family.
Fr Wayne Bendotti
Hi Bruce
God will guide you weather to go to your mother. My prayers are with you Michele
Yes
I agree I decided yesterday that I would fly to Perth soon and see my cousin who isn’t well but picking the time is the hardest part.
I believe that God will guide my decision and that when I go will be the right one
Your words today Bruce are so onto what Holy week is all about….Jesus’s humanity, and our humanity…..the tensions of trying to get it right, the rejections, the betrayals, and still trying to stay true to who we are. Keeping our eyes on what Jesus was able to do and say and still remain true to himself…..is looking through the eyes of love…no matter how shocking our little deaths are, they are as nothing to what He suffered and died for. We are a people who are so blessed ,we know how the Story ends,we are a people of the Resurrection……who need to keep our eyes on the Lord. The closer we can come to Jesus the more we will know what to do and what to say. Amen.
“Bruce your talk today was so beautiful as it is every day. It is so true that there are so any people who only see the frailty in the Church and nothing else. Those people will never see God, and they are not letting God love them and help them in there lives. I have the clear reading glasses and I see God who loves me and everyone so much. God does so much for us. I know that I have been truly blessed by God, and just when I think something is not working out, in the next moment it has and that is because I know God will help me, because I love and trust in him completely. ” Bruce thank you so much for letting me share this beautiful and wonderful Lenten journey with you. May God Bless you always. Erica
WOW is the word I can only describe so far. Watching the video and reading the reflection has been WOW. It has touched my heart, challenged me, encouraged me, and blessed me. I think I will ask Holy Spirit to shine my glasses, as sometimes I can see but bits of finger marks and dust of the world get in the way. So thank you very much.
Thank you Bruce, I am praying for you, your Mum and your family, God bless you, Jeanie
Really good, so true, Bruce. We are all frail. Gosh, if we are all perfect Jesus needn’t have to die.!! Truth is we all need God and the sooner every human being realise this, the better the world will be. I hope to always wear the right glasses and help others be aware if they are not wearing the right ones. Thank you Bruce for your marvellous sacrificial efforts. Hope mum and Rosemary are on their way to better health. God bless!
We are all faced with difficult Challenges in Life but if we walk daily with God in Prayer truthfully, He will give us the Grace to Have Peace, Love & Joy.
Thankyou,
Daphne P.
Great advice,we are so blessed to have people like you in our lives,May God and our Blessed Mother continue to inspire you,I’m praying for your Mom.
Thank you for reminding me to pray first in the morning & at the end of each day.
To Bruce and your team
Thank you for your inspiration. It has been a wonderful journey.
Maureen
Thank You Bruce I’ve been following you right through Lent and you have inspired my life so much ! Your Mom and your family are in my prayers and heart
Thankyou very much Bruce for your reflections. They are very inspired I feel and I am sorry I have not been able to give feedback until now. I will remember your intentions in my own prayers. Very much looking forward to celebrating Easter with enhanced conviction.
Tony
Thank you Bruce for your self giving and thanks to your team as well. I only signed up a week ago, after your TCG Mission at Greystanes, and I look forward to your daily reflections. Hope all goes well with your mum and also Rosemary. I offer my prayers for them and also your mission.
Our Lord will guide you to visit your Mom at the right time. May He continue to help your mother & Rosemary to full recovery.
God Bless,
Julie
Thankyou Bruce your daily videos and reflections are wonderful . The main message is the power of daily prayer. I put into practice the suggested p.e.r.r.s.o.n.a.l, prayer we learnt at the deep-er session and experienced a strange very dark nightmare. This is an extremely rare occurrence and would have left me sleepless but for the presence of God spelt out in my own words in the journal beside my bed…He was there protecting me. Our God is Real.
Praise to You Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear Bruce,
Thank you for your most inspiring talks. My IPad stopped going on the web about 2 weeks ago but my mail and skype works. I have to go downstairs to my study and use my computer everyday to follow your videos. Took my iPad to the apple shop and it worked, brought it home and it does not work although my computer works and the wireless system works. Just now my IPad just started to work with no input from me at all !!!! Do you believe in miracles?? It is amazing !! I thanked the Lord and am watching your video in the comfort of my lounge. Praise the Lord.
Bruce you are doing such a great job for God He certainly will watch over your mum, with very special care. I will remember her in my prayers.
I was having a discussion with my brother the other day about the co-pilot who crashed that plane taking with him the lives of 150 people. My opinion was that it was so selfish of him to do something like that, if he wanted to kill himself why didn’t he do it without taking so many innocent lives. My brother’s opinion was that he was suffering depression and obviously not well to such a thing. The more I think about the atrocities that occur in this world these days I somehow feel there is an excuse for everything, he Is suffering depression, he was abused, he was neglected, the list goes on… and while they are all legitimate reasons for why a person is the way he or she has become I feel society has forgotten to take responsibility for their own actions and can so easily come up for reasons on why they did what they did. God gave us all a conscience it is what makes us different from any other living species. I truly believe no matter what the circumstances we know in our hearts the difference between right and wrong, we just choose not to listen. Society has turned away from God and therefore cannot hear the little voice inside that says that is not right, or think about what you are doing, instead we look for alternative reasons. We look at the world through tainted glasses and until we turn towards the Creator of this world it will remain tainted.
Dexter 01/04/15
All I can say is that through ur prayers to Christ, God is not looking at our sins but the faith of his church. Ur concern and love for ur mum and wife and infact ur whole family is like a wakeup call for me.
I have known and feel like part of ur family just by reading the reflections, the comments, and listening to the videos. Some of us will learn by ur example to be our brother’s keeper.
I can’t imagine how far this Everngelisation has changed people’s lives. Bruce I need to be inspired to learn to do what u do. Loving myself first then my family and my neighbors, and leave the rest to God Almighty.
Dear Bruce,
You have say a big ‘yes’ to our Lord and the whole world has benefit from it. Thank you. I’ve learned so much during this 40+ days lent journey that you and your team have prepared so well using modern technology to reach as many as possible no matter where they are. Please remember that you are not alone, your brothers and sisters in Christ are praying for you and your family. Many, many blessings to you, your family and the entire TCG Team. AM
Thank You…love reading your reflections.
Dear Bruce,
What a breath of fresh air your words are ,the Holy Spirit is moving in the Body of Christ in a powerful way.
I am part of a group of christians who produce a Passion Play every year at this time.
For 10 years I played the role of Mary the Mother of Jesus ,one year ,just after the enactment of the crucifixion when the lights are turned off to allow for reflection
I was kneeling in the dark at the foot of the cross and all of a sudden it was the real cross of Jesus I was kneeling at,I knew then that we all need to come to the cross even Mary because she said “My spirit exults in God my Saviour ”
May this Feast Day of Lord The Passover and the Feast Day of First Fruits, the day on which Jesus rose from the dead fill your heart with Joy
Adele
Please leave everything and go to your Mother, Bruce. It is 4000km by plane, which is only 5 hours. She needs you now more than …when she is better or well. In my line of work I know many, who never recovered from such an accident and operation. Mostly due to the psychological complications – the person feels not needed, not capable of being independent anymore etc etc.
Please, go!
xo
Dear Bruce, Bless you for providing this wonderful daily reflection. I have enjoyed it and felt inspired by it and I know that God is working through you. I wish you and your family and your team the most Blessed of Easters!