My Thoughts 18/05/2022

I grew up on a housing estate in Clapham and we didn’t even have a window box. Yet my aunt and uncle who lived in leafy Purley had a wonderful garden which they tended with great love. It was from them I began to understand the importance of pruning. Pruning helps to maintain plant health, it controls the size of the plants and the shape and helps new growth.

Years ago, as a young priest working as a hospital chaplain, I was sharing with a doctor how difficult I found visiting patients. His response was to quote the gospel passage that we have today.

“and every branch that does bear fruit
he prunes to make it bear even more.
You are pruned already,
by means of the word that I have spoken to you.”

He said that even though I did not find approaching patients easy it was a pruning for me. God was working and pruning me to be his effective and fruitful instrument.

Loving Lord I offer to you all my work, my responsibility, my meetings with others today. Through them may I be pruned by you so that I may be stronger and more fruitful.

Canon Father Anthony Charlton
Canon Father Anthony CharltonParish Priest