31st Sunday Year A

Thirty First Sunday Year A – Love the Lord your God

What is it to be a Christian? What vision do we have in mind when and if we ever call ourselves Christians to other people? Is it someone dressed in their Sunday best, attending church every weekend and sometimes every day? Possibly someone who keeps all of the Holy Days of Obligation – holy - and who comes to church every Christmas and Easter?

Maybe it is someone who does odd or even regular good works for the parish priest and who is known throughout the parish for being his right hand man or woman. Is it this? Do these criteria describe you, in who you are and in what you do – and does this meet your mind-definition of what it is to be a Christian?

It is a fact that the church needs to be a people of worship: a people that comes together regularly to pray and worship. The church is the people of God and the people of God are you – us. It is for us to show how we are committed to showing God how much we love him through working together to help others through our prayer and action.

The church is not any single person acting alone, whatever their position, from Pope Francis down to Father Bernard. Yes, we have to note what they tell us and listen if they talk to us as Christ tell his apostles about the Pharisees but…but – we have to look to what we need to do ourselves, as a parish.

It is our actions that make the parish. It is what we do and what we get involved in and with that made our parish what it was, what it is and what it will become. It is the people of Christ, the parish of St John’s that has to show its love of God through the actions that it takes – what it allows and encourages and what it steps in to challenge as being wrong or unfair.

It is unacceptable to have people walking out from mass each weekend grumbling about this and that person or another’s actions but deciding to do nothing about it themselves. Right after mass! – is this us showing our love of God? We show our love of God by how we deal honestly, truthfully and openly with each other. We show our love of God by how we trust each other, speak and listen to each other and treat each other with respect here within the confines of our own parish community, maybe taking an active role in the newly re-launched SVP or seeking a smaller or different role to offer help and sustenance.

And we extend that love, that care, that courtesy outward to others beyond our parish confines. We show our love of God through our love and our actions of love to people beyond our parish, through things such as the Foodbank, maybe through an active role in the new CAFOD group still to be organised.

We show our love of our neighbour by trying to have an open heart and mind; trying to see where they would benefit from our input, our actions, our speaking and by our illustration of our faith and trust in them by our listening, our listening to them articulate their needs and responding in kind with answers that carry meaningful fruit.

It is easy to say, I am a Christian, just as the early disciples declared, I am for Paul or I am for Peter – but what do we mean when we say it? What does our declaration offer to anyone about our love for God, his love for me, my love for my neighbour and my neighbour being every other person, both far and near. We should be able to say aloud, “Here are my prayers and services to show my love of and for you, my God that shows my adherence to the first commandment and here are my actions with and for, your people, my neighbours, to show your love for me and all mankind, that show my adherence to your second commandment.”

We need the gifts of the Holy Spirit to help us to live our lives courageously with vim and vigour always in service and love of God our Father and of every brother and sister that we have here on earth, every neighbour.

Lord, help me to be humble as you were humble and to exalt you in every part of my daily life. Help me to be less of a grumbler and much more of a fixer here within my parish. Help me to recognise you and your son in every person that I meet and to do my utmost to serve them as I would serve you. Amen

Bidding Prayers

1.      For the Christian family across the world that it grows in love of God and in service to all of its neighbours. Lord in your mercy

2.      For all peoples torn apart by war and conflict that they may gain the true peace that comes from knowing God as their heavenly father. Lord in your mercy

3.      For church and world leaders that they work together to create a world of peace and to care for the poorest of their peoples. Lord in your mercy

4.      For our parish communities that we continue to grow together to create peoples united in our faith and faith-practice. Lord in your mercy

5.       For all those who are suffering any form of illness in mind, body, spirit or heart that they may find peace and love through our prayers and actions. Lord in your mercy

6.      For all those who have died recently. We pray that they find eternal rest with God our heavenly father. Lord in your mercy

7.      That Mary our Mother and the Mother of the church joins her prayers with ours as we say together, Hail Mary  . . . .