In today’s reflection from the Daily Mass, Fr Dean explores the shared partnership we have in the life of God’s kingdom.
The readings for Mass today can be found here
In the nineteenth century, the coal mines of the valleys (and elsewhere around the country) employed children as young as five years old who sat at the safety door of the shafts.
Many of them sat alone in darkness for up to twelve hours with only their lamp for comfort until the oil ran out. It was only half way through that century that the law was reformed meaning that girls and boys under ten were not allowed to work underground.
We may indeed look at the past with a sense of amazement, and think that our own times are far more civilised and so much better—which of course in many ways they are. But there are still wrongs in our own time, and the law is constantly changing to keep up with changing times.
When Jesus sends out the seventy two in pairs he gives them clear instructions. He sends them ahead to prepare the way. They have been with Jesus for so long now it is time for them to have a taste of all that will be asked of them in the days after Pentecost. When they return they bring news of miracles and changed lives. But none of them had been sent out to work alone.
In the first reading, St Paul is almost alone—except Luke is with him. Demas has abandoned him, and the others have gone their own way. So he writes to Timothy and asks him to bring Mark with him. The commission of Christ is not a solitary one. It requires working together, and having the company, fellowship and support we can give to one another.
The work of God continues in our own generation— as we seek to bring God’s light to the darkness of the world, changing lives and bringing hope, and announcing that the Kingdom of God is very near.
South Cardiff Ministry Area 