Each day during Refugee Week, we offer Mass with prayer and reflection. Today, we pray for those who are homeless and all for whom ‘home’ is not a safe place to be.
The Thought
(Matthew 5:43-48)
“Have no fear of perfection,” said the artist Salvador Dali, ‘you will never reach it.” Yet, it’s the striving for perfection which Jesus sets before us in the gospel reading. “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” This is a tall order. Surely it’s unreachable, unattainable, beyond our grasp? Every day we are bombarded by advertisers to buy that one thing that will really improve our lives. We are given images of what it means to look beautiful, to be healthier or more popular. There are books and coaching videos on how to be more successful, make more money, be more satisfied. There seem to be so many different paths to become more perfect, and as many different definitions of what it means to be perfect. But, for us, perfection comes from God.
Those who leave their homes as they flee from war, persecution or climate change are not seeking a perfect life. They are simply seeking safety. Those who have found themselves sleeping on our streets or on the floor of a night shelter or whose family has been squeezed into a hotel room because of rising costs and housing shortages are not seeking a perfect life. They simply want a place to call home. Many of those who sleep rough in our cities may have suffered trauma in childhood, or perhaps they have mental health problems, their lives changed for ever.
The perfection which Jesus sets before us is a life lived closer to God. Jesus shows us what this looks like when he lays down his life for us in service and sacrifice, when he reaches out with compassion to those who are often on the edge of society, pushed away to the margins, overlooked or derided. It is the same rain which falls upon our heads, the same sun which warms us, says Jesus. If we save our greetings for those who are close to us, is that exceptional? What, then, can we do to support those who whose lives seem so distant but with whom we share this world, especially those who have no place to call home?
The Prayer
Invitation to Prayer: Dear friends, as Jesus commands us to love our neighbour, let us pray for all in need, especially those who are homeless.
Intentions of Prayer
We pray for the Church, that all Christians may grow in love of God and neighbour, and bring God’s justice to the world.
We pray for those who are homeless in our own city and communities, for all who work with them.
We pray for those who have left their homeland to find safety in a strange country, and all who fear for their families left behind.
We pray for peoples displaced by Climate Change, and for governments who have the ability to make bold decisions to care for the world.
We pray for those affected by the housing crisis in our country, for all who struggle with the cost of living, for those whose decisions can make a difference to the housing situation.
We pray for Landlords that they may serve not just their own interests but the concerns of their tenants too.
We pray for those who have died in homelessness, our own departed loved ones, (for the recently departed … and those whose anniversaries of death occur today…)
We pray for our own needs and concerns, for those commended to our prayer…
The Bible Readings
The Bible readings for today’s celebration can be found here:
The Programme
For our full programme for Refugee Week, visit https://southcardiffministryarea.co.uk/refugee-week-2024/
Mass is celebrated today (Tuesday 18th June) at St Saviour’s Church at 10am and St Mary’s Church at 7pm.
South Cardiff Ministry Area 