Jesus acknowledges that relationships may sometimes be strained or even broken. He encourages us to seek reconciliation when this happens. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for Wednesday of week 19 of ordinary time can be found here.

The 18th century English poet Alexander Pope famously declared: “To err is human, to forgive, divine”. Surely we have all experienced the first part of Pope’s statement. We can all think of occasions where we have erred, sinned, done the wrong thing. And the times when others have done wrong to us. Our readings today try and take us beyond wrongdoing to the second part of Pope’s saying – forgiveness and restoration.

The readings have something striking in common. In each, the issue of sin is confronted head-on. In the first reading God deals brutally with those who have abandoned him, while sparing the righteous. In the Gospel, Jesus says that we should not ignore wrongdoing within the church. But neither should we condemn the sinner outright. Instead we should make every effort to bring about reconciliation.

People outside the Christian faith often get the wrong idea about forgiveness. They think it means sweeping things under the carpet, saying whatever has been done wrong doesn’t really matter. Jesus’ words today show us that couldn’t be further from the truth. For sin to be forgiven, it needs to be named. The sinner needs to realise what they’ve done is wrong. This takes courage on both sides! But the effort is worth it if we can indeed repair what has been broken and model that divine quality of forgiveness spoken about by Pope.

Mass today is in St Paul’s at 10am and St Mary’s at 11am.

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer, check out our Day By Day pages.

Jesus challenges popular ideas of what it means to be “great”. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for Tuesday of week 19 of ordinary time (memorial of St Clare) can be found here.

“Who is the greatest?” It’s a question asked today by the disciples, and it’s a question that’s been asked down the centuries. In the ancient world the greatest was the king with the biggest empire and the most riches. Nowadays it’s the businessperson who has made the most money, the social media influencer with the most followers, the pop star who has sold most records, even the church with the biggest congregation.

As ever, Jesus flips these notions of greatness on their head. He uses the example of a child to illustrate his conception of greatness. In his society children were not given much respect. They could not earn any money to support the family, so people were impatient for them to grow up. Yet Jesus sees their value just as they are. The parable of the lost sheep emphasises the point: God sees great worth in those who are often overlooked. Where might we find greatness in our society today?

In the reading from Ezekiel we have a dramatic image of the prophet eating the word of God, which is sweet to the taste. It is a reminder to all of us that merely hearing or reading the Scriptures is not enough. We must allow them to enter into us and transform us, so that we might view the world and its people – especially the overlooked – with the same love that God does.

Mass today is in St Mary’s at 6.30pm.

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer, check out our Day By Day pages.

Seeds are no good if they stay in the packet. They must be surrendered to the earth to be of any use. It is the same with us and our life – we are called to give it up in service, just as St Laurence did in his witness of martyrdom. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for the Feast of St Laurence can be found here.

Imagine that someone gives you a packet of seeds. As they hand them over, they say “these seeds are amazing … they will produce something wonderful”. “Great”, you think to yourself. “I better look after these special seeds”. And so you put the packet carefully in a cupboard, which you lock. Weeks go by and nothing happens. “They don’t seem so special”, you think, so you open the packet and pour the seeds into a dish. You leave them there, occasionally spending a while gazing on them and their specialness. Still nothing happens. You end up quite disappointed with the gift.

The mistake in that scenario was of course wanting to hoard the gift. The seeds will only produce something amazing if they are given away, buried in the ground. Hidden from sight, they soon cease to be what they once were. No longer mere seeds, they start to grow into that amazing thing promised by the giver. This is the essence of Jesus’ words in the Gospel, and the example of St Laurence whom we honour today. The human instinct is to hoard and protect things. We see this with the wealth of the world’s millionaires and billionaires. It is tied up in bank accounts, property or other assets, and just sits there, of no use to anyone. Instead, it is the act of giving something away which makes it useful. Jesus applies this to our very life. When we give it away to others in service, or even in martyrdom, it suddenly becomes worth so much more than if it was kept locked away in a cupboard. Like the seed planted in the ground, we cease to be what we once were and are transformed into the likeness of Jesus.

Jesus, of course, is the supreme example of giving himself away so that something amazing might happen. This occurs every time we celebrate the Mass, as he gives us his very self, his body and blood. We adore the host and the chalice at the moment of consecration, but soon these sacred elements disappear as they are consumed. Within us, they enable something extraordinary to occur. They give us the grace which enables us to follow Our Lord, Laurence and all the saints in giving ourselves to him and to one another.

Mass today is in St Dyfrig & St Samson at 6.30pm (preceded by Eucharistic Adoration at 5.45pm).

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer, check out our Day By Day pages.

So many people over the centuries have been prepared to give their lives in witnessing to God. Their faithfulness can inspire and encourage us today. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for Saturday of week 17 of ordinary time can be found here (memorial of St Alphonsus Mary de’ Ligouri).

Pope John Paul II once said that the 20th century saw more Christian martyrs than the previous 19 centuries combined. Some debate the accuracy of this claim, depending on how a martyr is defined. However, there’s no doubt that over the past 100 years many have been willing to die for the faith. Think of St Maximilian Kolbe in the 1940s, St Oscar Romero in the 80s, or Fr Jacques Hamel, murdered while saying Mass in 2016.

In our readings today we see two figures willing to pay the ultimate price for serving God. Jeremiah has previously said that the Jerusalem Temple will be destroyed because of the people’s rejection of God. In today’s first reading the religious leaders say that he deserves death for this message. Jeremiah accepts his fate, saying “I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you.” The people intervene however and Jeremiah survived.

Not so fortunate was John the Baptist who we read about in the Gospel. Herod has him beheaded at the behest of his mistress and her daughter because John condemned the king for his immorality. We may not face such severe consequences for proclaiming the faith as Jeremiah, John, or the whole company of martyrs. However, may their actions example inspire us to be bold as we seek to witness to God’s truth today.

Mass today is in St Mary’s at 11.30am (preceded by morning prayer at 10.50am and Rosary at 11).

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer, check out our Day By Day pages.

Sometimes as Christians it can feel that no-one wants to listen to what we have to say. Yet this was also the experience of the prophet Jeremiah and even Jesus himself. Like them, we should simply persevere, knowing that we are doing God’s work.

Readings for Friday of week 17 of ordinary time can be found here.

In December 1837, the newly elected MP Benjamin Disraeli rose to make his maiden speech in the House of Commons aged only 33. Criticising the previous speaker, he was met with laughter, shouts, and jeers from the opposition benches. Eventually he had to give up and sit down, saying “one day you will hear me”. Thirty years later Disraeli would have the last laugh as he began the first of his two stints as prime minister.

It’s never very nice when other people do not listen to what we have to say. Yet this was the experience of both Jeremiah and Jesus in our readings today. Jeremiah stands in the court of the Temple in Jerusalem and prophesies its destruction, saying that it will go the same way as Shiloh, the original Israelite sanctuary which was destroyed by the Philistines. The priests react angrily to Jeremiah’s words, threatening to kill him for what he has said.

In the Gospel reading the citizens of Jesus’ own hometown react to his ministry with a mixture of mockery and disdain. They cannot believe that the person they have known growing up can be anything special. This leads to Jesus’ famous declaration that a prophet is without honour in his hometown. Often the church’s message is met with either opposition, derision, or even both. This can discourage us and tempt us to give up, or even not bother in the first place. Like Disraeli, Jeremiah, and of course Jesus himself, we should persevere, regardless of the response, sure in the knowledge that we are proclaiming God’s word to the world.

Mass today is in St Saviour’s at 10am.

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer, check out our Day By Day pages.

Like a potter, God shapes us by his very own hands. Patient and loving, he is willing to reshape us when we go astray. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for Thursday of week 17 of ordinary time can be found here.

My dear late mother had many gifts, but being good at knitting was not one of them. She told the story of how, before I was born, she tried knitting something for my older brother. Sitting in front of the open fire in her mother’s living room, mum dropped a few stitches and got into a bit of a tangle. In a fit of frustration, she threw the whole lot – knitting needles and all – into the fire! When my dad said “oh I expect my mum could have sorted that out” he was not popular! Have you ever had a moment of frustration like that, trying to do or make something and it just won’t work? And so you feel like throwing it away and giving up.

This is not the attitude of the potter whom Jeremiah visits in our first reading today. The pot he is working from clay on his wheel goes wrong, so he patiently reworks it into another vessel. He doesn’t give up at the first sign of difficulty, and all is not lost. God then likens himself to the potter, and Israel, his people to the clay. Israel has been rebellious for many centuries, continually falling out of shape like a wobbly piece of clay. And yet God promises never to give up on his people, and says that just like the potter he will remould Israel back into his own image.

In the Gospel reading we have another image of God’s patience with his people. The kingdom of God is compared to a net which gathers in fish of all kinds. God’s kingdom, and God’s world, as we know, is full of all sorts of folks – with plenty of misshapen pots and scraggly pieces of knitting included. Judgement, we are told, comes at the end of the age, only when all have had the chance to turn to God and follow his ways. 

God does not require us to be perfect vessels. Aware of this, may we always refrain from passing judgement on other fish who are in the net alongside us. All he asks of us is that we are willing to be held in his hands, the loving potter, who desires and promises to continually reshape us more and more into his likeness.

Mass today is in St Dyfrig & St Samson at 10am.

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer, check out our Day By Day pages.