Tuesday 30 May, 2023 | Eighth Week in Ordinary Time |Readings: Ecclesiasticus 35:2-15; Psalm 49(50):5-8,14,23; Mark 10:28-31 (You can find these in full on the Universalis website – Click here)
Speaking of his fight against injustice as he led the civil rights movement in the US, Martin Luther King said, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”
In the gospel reading today, Peter is beginning to count the cost of his discipleship. He and the others have left family and home, a livelihood and security, to follow Jesus. Where he goes, so do they, as they share in his journey from town to town, and from place to place. “What about us?’ he asks Jesus. “We have left everything and followed you.” Jesus does not offer them instant rewards. This exchange follows immediately from the parable of the Rich Man, and Jesus saying that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Peter is recognisably concerned about their future. He wants to know if the cost and sacrifice is worth it and if it can assure them of the promises Jesus makes.
As Martin Luther King counted the cost of the sacrifices he was making, and the struggles he experienced, he knew that it was the means through which the world could be transformed, and how justice would come. Each of us is called to a different way of life, and the sacrifices we make are unique to each one of us. But none of it is in vain. The sacrifices we make in the service of the gospel are signs and expressions of our love of God, and “our passionate concerns” as King called them, as we recall that the word passion has its origins in the Latin word pati, meaning suffer. So, we stand with Martin Luther King, and with Peter and the Apostles before him, and so many others who have struggled for justice and who have proclaimed the gospel of Christ with passion, and pray for strength to make the sacrifice, and faith to bear the pain.
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Mass today (Tuesday 30 May, 2023) is celebrated at St Saviour’s Church, Splott at 10am, and at Mary’s Church, Butetown at 7pm | If you would like to send a prayer request then click on the ‘REQUEST PRAYER’ Button. You can discover more about Worship across the Ministry Area on our Worship page
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