Well as usual I am overwhelmed by the generosity of the parish to last week’s Josephite Missions Appeal! The Mission Sunday response was wonderful and I thank all of you who took envelopes home and are re- turning them this weekend. Every cent will go to our missions. If you did not manage to be here last week- end, there are Mission sheets with envelopes in the Church vestibule that you can take and use; every dol- lar goes a real long way in Congo!
The Gospel today contains the clearest representation of the Golden Rule that exists in one form or another in every religion and most mainstream philosophies and ethical systems. Jesus puts it on equal footing with the great religious rule of the Torah called the Sche- ma, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind”. Everything else is commentary – as the great ancient Rabbi Gamaliel said of the Schema.
If these two commandments are so clear then why are we so troubled by them? I suspect that there are two main reasons for this. Firstly, we approach them from the wrong end. We start with ourselves in the rule, and try and work up to God, but really we should as al- ways put God first in all things. Secondly we have to realize that Love is a life project, it changes the face of the earth but it also takes hard work and an emptying of self for the sake of the other person and the utterly other – God. Let’s try and reassess and realign our- selves to these two commandments this week.
May God Bless You and Your Families,
Fr. Aidan Peter, CJ
May God bless you, your families, and the week ahead,
Fr Aidan Peter