Sunday Reflections

On a liturgical note

Canon Philip Gillespie

We are all called to be ministers of God's good news. Yet it is not easy to be a bearer of good news in the current circumstances – not when there is a global health pandemic, recession in the economy, and the woes and difficulties of society and Church to be worried about. Where is the good news in all of that? My home parish is Saint Matthew in Clubmoor, Liverpool and it was in that church that I was ordained a priest 31 years ago. At the top of the main aisle, just as you enter the sanctuary, there is a mosaic, set in the floor, of our patron and it was on that spot that I lay during the singing of the Litany of the Saints at the Ordination Mass. When I was a parishioner I'm not sure the picture made much of an impression on me: when you have prostrated with your head resting on the mosaic, it certainly does! Some years later, when I was chaplain at Southport Hospital, I remember being asked by a patient what was my favourite passage of the Good News. I realised that it was a portion of St Matthew's Gospel, where he recounts the words of Jesus: ‘Come to me all you who labour and are heavy burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’ (Matthew 11: 28- 30) We are heavy burdened in so many ways at the moment – for many of us, the requirements of physical distancing and the need to wear a face covering are but relatively minor inconveniences in the face of the poverty, illness and bereavement suffered by so many in our own communities and around the world. What would be worse is if the physical distancing became something which rendered us insensitive to the pain and the needs of others, be those needs physical, emotional or spiritual. It is good to have a place where we can find rest, where we can put everything into perspective, and where gentleness and true humility are understood as virtues, the practice of which shows that we have truly learned the lessons of the Gospel and therefore can be bearers of good news to all peoples. St Matthew, pray for us. The Feast of St Matthew, Apostle and Gospel Writer, is celebrated on Monday 21 September.

Sunday thoughts As a young priest in Skelmersdale I took Holy Communion to the housebound every ‘First Friday’. In those days few people had phones. That was no handicap. Each person expected me on the same day at the same time each month. They waited with a little altar prepared and candles lit. I entered and left each house in silence. Conversation with the priest was avoided. It was considered disrespectful to the Blessed Sacrament. One Friday I couldn’t make it. Changing the day required a visit to each person in advance, this time without the Blessed Sacrament. We were free to speak. Gallons of tea were drunk. It was a revelation. I heard their stories, their anxieties and their joys. I related to them as fellow human beings. Looking back, I realised that I had allowed the Eucharist to become a barrier to my recognising the presence of Christ in each of them. This wasn’t what the Lord had in mind on the night

Mgr John Devine OBE before He died. Throughout the lockdown our churches have been closed. Some still are. There have been livestreamed Masses. These continue. Expressions of appreciation fill my in-box. There is a common theme. Many of those deprived of Holy Communion speak of their discovery of the Lord’s presence deep within themselves; a recognition that frequent reception of the Eucharist obscured. Furthermore, cut off from their friends whom they met every week at Mass, many have discovered a solidarity in the faith with others that transcends closed doors and isolation. Our lockdown period coincided with Gospel accounts of Easter. Closed doors were no obstacle to the Risen Jesus. On Pentecost Day the locked doors of the upper room were thrown open. Peter and Paul both went on to spend time in prison. Locked up or set free, the faith flourished. Weekly Reflections are on the Archdiocesan website at www.liverpoolcatholicresources.com

Kingdom living

Some time ago I was invited to meet a community of people, who met in the centre of the city I was in. I was taken to an underpass. It was noisy and dirty because of the motorway overhead. We arrived there late at night. It was in a fairly poor part of the city and there were unsavoury characters hanging around. I was a bit hesitant about walking into the underpass but the man who was with me pushed me forward. When I got used to the lighting, I saw people everywhere in small groups, either reading, or having read to them, the Scriptures. Some of them obviously lived on the streets and all were extremely poor. They were gathered by a young Pentecostal minister called Kevin. He had felt called, years earlier, to work with the poor and here he was leading these people into a life of reflection on the Word of God. He had begun his street mission about three years earlier and told me that, as people responded to the Scriptures, he had seen changed lives. I wandered among the people talking with them and I realised he was right. They were excited about the Scriptures and what they learned about God’s presence with them. To see these people filled with hope and joy in the worst of circumstances was a real experience of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is within us, among us and yet beyond us. It can’t be quantified or limited or even fully explained, but it can be experienced. Church is one of the means by which the kingdom can grow but not the only means. Wherever there is love, joy, forgiveness, peace, there is the Kingdom of God. In the parables Jesus tells us that when the kingdom is recognised people will give up an awful lot to become part of it because it’s a very attractive, human experience which brings life. What makes us part of that kingdom is to turn from self and turn towards God. That changing of direction is a life-time process. Every day we fall away from the values of the kingdom and so every day we need to ‘repent’, turning towards the kingdom and away from self. Richard Rohr says that in one breath we need to say, ‘Thy kingdom come’ and, in the next, ‘My kingdom go’. To live in the kingdom will bring us life and isn’t dependent on what’s happening around us. Even when times are hard the kingdom can still be experienced by those who want it. So let’s pray for an experience of the kingdom which will change us deeply within. Fr Chris Thomas