What’s written on the inside?

Prayer was at the heart of Jesus’ life and ministry and so it should be in ours, writes Fr Richard in today’s reflection on the daily mass readings.

Readings for Tuesday in the first week of Lent can be found here.

On trips to the seaside as a child, whether it be Weston-super-Mare, Burnham-on-Sea or even Tenby, I remember being fascinated by sticks of rock. I was – and still am – intrigued about how they get the lettering to go all the way through. No matter where you break the stick of rock, you find the same letters and words. 

Today’s Gospel comes from the very centre of Jesus’ major teaching known as the Sermon on the Mount. And what do we find when we break into the middle of his teaching? What is written all the way through? It is, of course, the Lord’s Prayer. It is as though this prayer is summing up all that Jesus is trying to say. This should come as no surprise to us, for prayer ran through the heart of Jesus’ life and ministry, like writing through a stick of rock. Many were the times when he got up early to go and pray on his own; no doubt he spent much of those 40 days in the wilderness in prayer; and we all know that moving scene in the Garden of Gethsemane where he prayed to the Father. Even while hanging on the Cross, Jesus continued praying, especially the Psalms.

It goes without saying, then, that prayer ought to run through the centre of our lives as Christians and our life as a church. We need to deepen our relationship with God if we are to serve him. The Lord’s Prayer, if we look at it carefully, is also a radical call to action. “Your kingdom come … on earth as it is in heaven” is asking for nothing less than the transformation of this world into something more like the life of heaven. The first session of our Lent group tonight focuses on this theme, as we look at the quest for justice shown by the Old Testament prophets and how we might follow in that tradition today. But the Lord’s Prayer also acknowledges that transformation begins on the personal level. We are called to practice the forgiveness and reconciliation with each other that we have received from God. We need not only to say the Lord’s Prayer, but put it into action. If we have its words running right through us, then we can begin to change the world.

Mass tonight is in St Mary’s at 6.30pm.

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

Repairing the breach

Lent is a time for rebuilding and restoring our relationship with God. Here’s today’s reflection from the daily Mass.

BIBLE READINGS: You can find the readings for Saturday after Ash Wednesday here

I once received an email from a well minded person complaining about the condition of a boundary fence in one of my churches.

The fence wasn’t dangerous at all. It was just in need of some extensive painting. I thanked them for their email, agreed the railings needed painting, but also outlined all the other repairs and items of maintenance currently on the go, and the costly responsibilities in caring for a listed building financed only by the congregation. I invited them to make a financial contribution to the painting of the railings. I never heard from them again.

It’s this kind of imagery which is used by the prophet Isaiah in today’s readings. “And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.” It’s an image of repair and renewal, of hope and resurrection, of restoration and celebration. But it comes at a cost. Of course, he’s not talking about putting our time and attention into old buildings at the expense of so many other aspects of mission and ministry. It’s a powerful image which doesn’t look back to a past time but looks forward to a new age built upon the foundations of faithfulness, justice and love.

Whilst we can easily be distracted by the burdens of buildings (as important as they are) they are built only upon lives of conversion and faith, of reaching out to those in need and remaining faithful to the gospel. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus is invited home to Levi’s house where he spends time and shares space with many undesirable and unpopular people. But he’s having a feast day. For Levi has come home in more ways than one. He is rebuilding his house and making his home a place of faith. It costs him dearly. After all, he has left everything to follow Jesus. But the ruins of his life have been rebuilt. He has repaired the breach. 

Mass today is at S Mary’s Church at 1130am

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If you’d like more resources for daily prayer then check out our DAY BY DAY pages.

 

A radical season of change

Lent is a radical season of change, a time of fasting but also a time of deepened prayer and charity, looking outwards to those in need. Here’s today’s reflection from the daily Mass.

BIBLE READINGS: You can find the readings for Friday after Ash Wednesday here

I wonder how many people, in the days before Lent, had the conversation which starts, “What are you giving up for Lent?” And I wonder, by the end of Lent, how many people will have given up ‘giving up’ something?

There is a similar, yet more serious conversation going on between God and his People in the reading from Isaiah. They seem to be impressed with themselves and don’t understand why God doesn’t share their own enthusiasm for their fasting. ‘They delight to draw near to God. “Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?” But God sees that, as they fast, they are also committing great injustices. The fast that God desires is one of liberation and justice, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, lifting oppression, housing the homeless. That is a far more radical demand.

Fasting and sacrifice is only one aspect of Lent. It is also a time of prayer and charity—reaching out to those in need. It is, then, a radical season, one which takes our relationship with God seriously, but also a season which demands that we look outwards to the world. By the end of Lent, it’s not only we who should be changed in some way, but so should the world. “Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily.”

Mass today is at S Saviour’s at 10am

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Not in the small print

Jesus spoke openly about the difficulties and challenges of discipleship. As we set off on our Lenten journey, we pray that the sacrifices we make will draw us closer to the Lord. Today’s reflection from the daily Mass.

BIBLE READINGS: You can find the readings for Thursday after Ash Wednesday here.

How many of us have signed contracts and agreements without reading the small print? All those Terms and Conditions we sign for products and services when all we’ve really done is scroll through thousands of words which mean nothing to us, but which we’ve given our assent to.

In the gospel reading, Jesus is clear about the difficulties and challenges which lie ahead. Firstly, he speaks of himself, and the suffering and death he will experience. Then he turns to all and says, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Jesus doesn’t hide these conditions in the small print. He speaks openly and clearly about them.  It is through a life of service and sacrifice that we will find fulfilment.

Whenever we meet with difficulties, it is natural to want to blame someone, or to be angry. God is often the subject of our anger, as though he has let us down or been unfaithful to us or malevolent. Today’s gospel reminds us of the pain of living and the difficulties of discipleship. The way of Christ is not always an easy one. It comes with a cross. But as Jesus says on another occasion, “Your endurance will win you your lives.” As we begin our Lenten journey, we pray that the sacrifices we make along the way, will make us stronger, deepen our faith and draw us closer to the Lord, whose death has brought life to the world.

Mass today is at Ss Dyfrig and Samson at 10am

DAY BY DAY

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer then check out our DAY BY DAY pages.

 

Ash Wednesday

“May this holy season of Lent be, for us, a time of penitence and renewal, a springtime of growth, a means through which we find our voice to praise the Lord and rejoice in his salvation.” Read today’s reflection from the Daily Mass.

BIBLE READINGS: You can find the readings for Ash Wednesday here

Vivienne Westwood, the fashion designer and businesswoman, who was largely responsible for bringing punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream, once said, “I just use fashion as an excuse to talk about politics. Because I’m a fashion designer, it gives me a voice, which is really good.”

What we wear often defines us. It can identify our class and values, our age and politics, our musical likes and inspirations, our personality, and so much more besides. Vivian Westwood said that, for her, the outward display and expressions of fashion were a means of expressing and addressing real problems and situations.

In our first reading from the prophet Joel, we read, ‘Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.’ Whilst tearing garments may have been a sign in Joel’s time of sorrow, penitence and frustration, it could all too easily become a shallow show with little or no real meaning. Joel’s call was to an internal conversion of heart.

Today, as we begin our Lenten journey, we are called to look within and to what’s really important. The ‘cosmetic’ and outward act of receiving ashes on our forehead, gives not just an expression of penance but a means to address what lies within. As we focus on our mortality and our propensity to sin, so we find our voice with the weeping priests of Joel’s day, to say, ‘Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations.”

May this holy season of Lent be, for us, a time of penitence and renewal, a springtime of growth, a means through which we find our voice to praise the Lord and rejoice in his salvation. May our lives, from this moment onwards, be fashioned by love and our need of God.

Mass today is at St Paul’s Church at 10am, St Mary’s Church at 11am and St Saviour’s at 7pm

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Bread and Milk?

“As we prepare for Lent, we will already be thinking about how we can trim our lives of a few comforts so that we can realign our lives with God who gives us life and sustains us.” Read today’s reflection from the Daily Mass.

BIBLE READINGS: You can find the readings for Ruesday in the sixth week of the year here

Whenever we receive warnings of severe weather coming our way, many people rush to the shops to buy their essentials—which usually includes bread and milk.

Paul Farhi, a staff writer at The Washington Post, shared his own bread-and-milk panic theory in 2005. He suggested that it’s the symbolism of bread and milk that puts them first on our list when disaster loom. He wrote: “Bread is the host, the stuff of life, a palpable object of survival. Milk is a no-brainer, too – it’s the sustenance that a mother provides an infant, a biblical promise (“a land flowing with milk and honey”), a smooth and nutritious foodstuff.”

In the gospel reading, there is a similar concern on the part of the disciples. They are in the boat with Jesus and, with a slight sense of panic, realise they don’t have enough provisions. They’ve only brought one loaf of bread—particularly great oversight considering it hadn’t been long before that Jesus had multiplied the loaves in the deserted place. Thousands of people were fed, and baskets of bread left over. Jesus attempts to turn their attention away from the mundane by giving them a more important thing to think about but still they talk about the lack of bread. In the end, he has to spell it out even more clearly. “Do you still not understand?” he says. Perhaps we can detect a certain frustration in his voice.

We can all so easily miss the point or distract ourselves with unimportant things. We can avoid talking about what’s really important, or not do what needs to be done. We can miss the point of the church and our calling, and pour our efforts into doing things that we don’t really need to do. As we prepare for Lent, we will already be thinking about how we can trim our lives of a few comforts so that we can realign our lives with God who gives us life and sustains us, and who in the Eucharistic feeds us with the Bread of Life

Mass today is at St Mary’s Church at 630pm

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If you’d like more resources for daily prayer then check out our DAY BY DAY pages.

 

Give me a Sign!

“We need signs by which to live, to ensure we are moving in the right direction. Jesus is the sign given by God.” Read today’s reflection from the Daily Mass.

BIBLE READINGS: You can find the readings for Monday in the sixth week of the year here

We’d be lost without signs. We’d end up driving down one one-way streets, be left looking for the toilets in pubs and restaurants, not know when it was safe to cross a busy crossroads, or not be able to find the cheese aisle in a supermarket. Imagine a world without signs. We’d have to talk to others to find out where we wanted to go!

In the gospel reading, the Pharisees want to talk to Jesus. Or, rather, they have come to argue with him. They try to test him, by asking for a sign from heaven. If he could provide one of those, then that would prove his power. But Jesus refuses to fall into their little trap. He is exasperated at their need for a sign, and he eventually leaves them to their petty arguments.

Sometimes, as we try to make sense of life or look for comfort or reassurances, some may see signs everywhere—often in the most extraordinary of places. For example, seeing faces in random places—whether that be clouds, cookies, crackers or burnt toast—is a common phenomenon known as “pareidolia.” It is driven by the brain’s evolutionary and automatic drive to identify faces for social navigation, which often causes it to see things that are not actually there. Some people can take this to extraordinary levels, inventing all kinds of ways in which they believe signs have been given to them either from God or from beyond the grave.

God has revealed his purpose to us in Christ. He has shown us how to follow him, and how he desires us to live. We need signs by which to live, to ensure we are moving in the right direction. Jesus is the sign given by God. If we remain close to him, follow him, and be faithful to him then we will experience his merciful love, his loving care, and his caring touch, for he is the way, the truth and the life.  He is the good shepherd who leads us through the darkest valley to pastures green.

Mass today is at St Dyfrig and S Samson’s church at 630pm

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Sharing the Good News

In today’s reflection on the daily mass readings, Fr Richard considers the task of spreading the Good News of Jesus – evangelisation.

Readings for the Feast of St Cyril and St Methodius (Saturday 14 February) can be found here.

What do you do with those flyers that are so often pushed through our letterboxes, advertising everything from takeaways to double glazing to gardening services? Most of us probably put them straight in the bin, but the people who send them out must think it’s worthwhile, or they wouldn’t bother. For every thousand flyers delivered, perhaps a handful will actually respond.

The work of evangelism, of spreading the Gospel, can often feel like this. We put in an enormous amount of effort for seemingly little reward. We might feel that figures such as St Cyril and St Methodius were much more successful in this work than we could ever hope to be. Yet our readings today remind us that proclaiming the Gospel is never easy and often brings mixed results. In the passage from Acts, Paul and Barnabas are on their first missionary journey and have reached Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). At the start of the reading, Paul is addressing the Jewish population of the region and commenting on how they have not received the Gospel. Paul, however, is not about to give up. Instead, he simply turns his attention to another group, namely the Gentiles.

In the Gospel Jesus sends out the 72 missionaries in a simple and humble manner. There is no “hard sell” here – they are merely to proclaim a message of peace. Sometimes, Jesus says, the message will remain with the person; other times it will return. In the verses that follow today’s reading, Jesus warns them that whole towns may reject their message, in which case they are to move on somewhere else.

As we seek to spread the Gospel in our own day, we shouldn’t think that if we adopt this or that strategy results will automatically come, like pulling a lever. Instead, we must simply proclaim the good news to all and sundry with simplicity and humility. And who knows, someone might actually pick up the leaflet, read it, and respond.

Mass today is in St Mary’s at 11.30am (Morning Prayer and Rosary at 11am)

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

Healing our divisions

Divisions in society, among nations, and even within the church seem to be a feature of modern life. Jesus shows us another way, as Fr Richard explores in today’s reflection on the daily mass readings.

Readings for Friday in the fifth week of Ordinary Time can be found here.

We are all familiar in modern history with nations that have become divided for a variety of reasons. Examples include East and West Germany, North and South Yemen, North and South Korea, and close to home Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Some have reunited, while others remain apart. There are those in the USA who believe that their nation is so hopelessly divided that the time has come for a “great divorce”, with one country for the Democrats, and a separate one for the Republicans!

Yesterday’s first reading foretold the division of the Kingdom of Israel, established by David, into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. In today’s passage things move forward. The prophet Ahijah tears his garment into twelve pieces, representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Ten tribes – the northern kingdom – are to be given to Jeroboam, while Solomon and his descendants will retain one tribe, which will become the southern kingdom. In case you’re thinking that only adds up to 11, the tribe of Benjamin is usually counted as one with Judah. 1 Kings is clear that the separation of the kingdom was a result of Solomon’s sin. And surely division is always the result of our sinfulness – our inability to get on with each other, tolerate difference, and reach compromise.

In the Gospels, we see Jesus bringing wholeness and healing as he overcomes the consequence of human sin. In yesterday’s passage he reached out (after a little persuasion on her part) to a Gentile, foreign woman. Today we see him healing the deaf man with a speech impediment, bringing wholeness to his life but also symbolising the in-breaking of his Kingdom. The Church, as a human institution, has had its fair share of divisions over the past 2000 years. As the Body of Christ, however, we should be about overcoming that which separates people from one another, and bringing healing and wholeness to society and to the world, in Jesus’ name.

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

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

The great reversal

Some people appear to have it all but throw it all away; others who seem to have nothing can achieve great things through persistence and faithfulness. Fr Richard explores these contrasting fortunes in today’s reflection on the daily mass readings.

Readings for Thursday of the fifth week of Ordinary Time can be found here.

The world of film loves a story which centres around a reversal of fortunes, either rags to riches or the other way round. Examples include The Wolf of Wall Street, which tells the true story of Jordan Belfort. He was a successful stockbroker who became very wealthy but was brought down by a mixture of hedonism and greed. On the other hand, Slumdog Millionaire is about a boy from the slums of Mumbai, India, who overcomes many hardships to win big on a TV quiz show thanks to his natural talent.

We see both of these trajectories in our readings today. Solomon was the classic insider who had everything. He was King of Israel, son of David, builder of the great Temple, and the one whom the Queen of Sheba travelled a great distance to see because of his legendary wisdom. And yet today we learn that he threw all of this away by worshipping other gods. As a result, the God of Israel promises that after his reign the kingdom will be divided, which did indeed happen.

Contrast this with the Syrophoenician woman from today’s Gospel. A Gentile, a foreigner, a woman, and one whom even Jesus refers to a dog. Yet unlike Solomon she had a faith which cannot be deterred. She answers back to Jesus, and persuades him to heal her daughter. These readings remind us that in the life of faith, status counts for nothing. It is simple, persistent faithfulness which matters. As Mary puts it in the Magnificat: “He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the lowly”. Let us always remember that, and be on the look out for such “great reversals” happening in our world and in our society today. 

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

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