We can all view the same situation in different ways. As Christians we are called to look upon all people – including refugees – with the eyes of love, compassion and hospitality. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for Friday of week 11 of ordinary time can be found here.

Have you ever seen one of those optical illusions where one picture contains two different images at the same time? At first glance, you may think it is a picture of an ornate white vase; but look again and you can also see the outline of two faces in shadow looking at each other. Another one might look initially like a duck with a long beak; or seen in a different way, a rabbit with long ears! Often in life, how we view a situation will depend on the eyes, or the attitude that we bring to it.

Athaliah the queen mother of Israel sees her infant grandson Joash as a rival in her bid for power. To her, he is not a beloved relative but a problem to be eliminated. She would rather that he be killed along with the rest of the royal family. Joash’s aunt, Jehosheba, sees him through quite different eyes. To her he is a vulnerable child, the heir to the throne, and someone who must be protected. She hides Joash away in the Temple. Fittingly for this week, Joash becomes a refugee in his own country, his safety dependent on the love, courage, and hospitality of another. Throughout this week, as we have reflected on the daily Mass readings in the light of Refugee Week, an important theme has emerged: how do we see refugees? With what eyes do we view them? Are they a political football, to be used to score points in our ever more divisive national debates? Are they a problem to be gotten rid of? Or do we view them as human beings, as Jehosheba did with Joash, who need love, support, and a safe place in which to live? The latter is surely the attitude of organisations such as Oasis whom we pray for in our Mass intention today.

Jesus says “the eye is the lamp of the body … if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.” How we view others not only affects them, important as that is. It also says something fundamental about ourselves. Are we full of light or full of darkness in the way we look upon the most vulnerable in our 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.

The Lord’s Prayer contains some of the most radical lines in any prayer. Yet it is not just a formula of words to be recited, but also a call to action to transform the world. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for Thursday of week 11 of ordinary time can be found here.

Imagine that a community decides to build a new playground for children. Many meetings are held to discuss the location, the facilities, how the money will be raised, and who will do the work. And then … nothing actually happens. So much talk, and no action. Everyone would be left feeling very frustrated and disappointed. However, if after all those meetings and discussion, everyone got on and built a splendid playground, the feeling instead would be one of accomplishment and satisfaction.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives his followers a formula of words to say when they pray. No doubt several sermons could be preached on every line of the Lord’s Prayer, but there is one part which is striking because it is so radical, even revolutionary. “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven” is calling for nothing less than the transformation of this world into the life of heaven. This means the removal of everything from our present world which is contrary to the will of God – no more war, hatred, violence or suffering. We may say these words several times every day, but how do we move from words to action, like our imaginary team building that playground? How do we build God’s kingdom on earth?

Our first reading reminds us of those great figures from the Old Testament, Elijah and Elisha, who were never afraid to speak the truth to power when God’s values and kingdom were being violated by kings and rulers. Christians today are called to follow in that great tradition, inspired by our daily reciting of the Lord’s Prayer. We are called not only to speak out when refugees are treated inhumanely, but also to build that world where no-one needs to become a refugee in the first place, a world where justice and peace prevail for everyone. This requires action, but action that must be fully rooted and steeped in prayer. 

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

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

Many people are not remembered in the pages of history, especially refugees who have died seeking safety far from home. However, God knows and loves everyone; our love should extend as far as his does. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for Tuesday of week 11 of ordinary time can be found here.

In recent years there’s been a growing interest in oral history projects. This is where historians sit down with a tape recorder (or nowadays a mobile phone) and listen to the stories of ordinary people – soldiers, miners, factory workers, dinner ladies, shopkeepers and countless others. These are people whose name would never normally have been recorded by history, whose lives would never have been noticed. Yet oral historians recognise that history is not only made by the powerful and famous. Everyone’s story is important and deserves to be heard.

The name of Naboth would never normally have been remembered. He was not rich, influential or powerful. The ones who wielded power in the land, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, had Naboth killed so they could steal his vineyard. They assumed he would soon be forgotten. Yet God knew who Naboth was, God remembered him and loved him. And so he sends the prophet Elijah to confront the king over what he had done. Jesus’ command to “love your enemies” comes from the idea that every life matters. It can be all too easy to divide up the world into those who are like us, deserving of our love, and those who are not. For Jesus, our circle of love extends far beyond those we know to embrace everyone, everywhere.

Many refugees who die in the process of fleeing war, persecution or terror will never be remembered by history. They may not even have a grave, and their families might not know what happened to them. But the God who remembered Naboth and was angered by his death, remembers and loves them all. In this Requiem Mass we claim that love for those who have died as refugees. We protest at a world that divides people up into those worthy of love and those not, a world that views some lives as expendable. And we pledge to extend our circle of love beyond those we know or who are like us, to all those forgotten by history but whose lives and stories are imprinted on the heart of God.

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.

Often in our world the rights of ordinary people get trampled over by the rich and powerful. Jesus shows us a radically different way to treat others. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for Monday of the 11th week of ordinary time can be found here.

A priest friend of mine once experienced a burglary at the vicarage. The police called to examine the scene and went from room to room. One of the officers said to him “my goodness they’ve made a right mess of the study”, to which my friend, never the tidiest of people replied, “no, this is exactly how I left it”! Luckily I’ve never been burgled but if you have, or have had anything stolen, you will know the sense of violation that comes with it. Often people say it is the sentimental value of things stolen that saddens them the most. It is as though a part of their history has been taken; the thief shows a lack of respect for this, and by extension to the owner themselves.

In our first reading Ahab the king of Israel wants something that someone else owns – Naboth’s vineyard. As with an item of sentimental value, Naboth doesn’t want to let go of the vineyard, which he calls “the inheritance of my fathers”. The vineyard is more than an asset: it represents Naboth’s heritage and family history. But this matters little to Ahab’s wife Jezebel, who arranges to have Naboth killed so Ahab may have the vineyard. She has no respect for Naboth’s heritage, or even his very life. These are things she is willing to trample over in order to get her way. In the Gospel Jesus presents a radically different way of dealing with people. Even the one who has wronged us should be treated with respect, the respect due to every human being, rather than be crushed in our desire for revenge.

Very often, refugees are treated as less than human. They are the collateral damage of someone else’s war, a source of income for people traffickers, or the football of domestic political debates. Yet like Naboth they all have a history, a heritage, and something important to contribute to the places where they end up. This week let us pray for the grace to build communities where every person is valued, every story is listened to, and God’s justice and mercy can flourish.

Mass today is in St Dyfrig & St Samson at 6.30pm.

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

Sometimes we might think that the small acts of kindness or goodness we do don’t make much difference. Yet if borne of love they can be truly transformative. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for Saturday of the 9th week of ordinary time can be found here.

The American poet, writer and civil rights activist Maya Angelou was eight years old when she was sexually abused by her mother’s boyfriend. The man was later killed by Angelou’s uncles. The trauma of her assault and feelings of responsibility for her attacker’s death caused Angelou to stop speaking for five years. She credited a teacher and family friend, Bertha Flowers, with helping her to speak again by telling her “you do not love poetry until you speak it”. For Flowers those words may not have seemed much, but said with love and care they transformed Angelou’s life and enabled her to become one of the most celebrated writers and speakers of the 20th century. 

Sometimes an act which seems insignificant to us can have an amazing impact. So it was with the offering of the widow described in today’s Gospel. The penny she puts in the offering box is equivalent to 1/64th of a denarius, and a denarius was the average daily wage. Compared to the large sums donated by the rich folk it is miniscule. It is hardly noticed, and will not make much difference to the Temple coffers. Yet it involves a huge sacrifice for the widow – it is all she has – and is noticed by God himself, who sees that the value of this small act is far greater than the monetary value of the gift. He knows the true cost involved, and that it was a gift given of love. Perhaps Paul wondered at times whether all of the rejections, the beatings and imprisonments were worth it. In Philippians he describes all his achievements as rubbish compared with knowing Jesus. Yet as we read today, he trusted that despite everything his ministry was worthwhile, and now he has finished the race.

May we never underestimate the value of seemingly small acts of devotion, encouragement or kindness. Give at a cost, and borne of love, they have infinite value in God’s sight. Every such act is like another building block of his kingdom. Let us continue to lay those blocks bit by bit, sure in the knowledge that when we too have finished the race, that kingdom will be just a little bit closer.

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

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

Life as a Christian can often confound our expectations. Things do not always turn out the way we might hope or think. Yet through it all, God remains faithful. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.

Readings for Friday of the 9th week of ordinary time (memorial of St Boniface) can be found here.

Anyone who has ever organised a church event knows the feeling. You spend weeks planning, you publicise it until you’re blue in the face, you have high hopes it will be a success … and three people turn up. Alternatively, you arrange something you think will be low-key and suddenly the place is packed out. You’re left scratching your head trying to make sense of it all. Life, as we all know, has a habit of confounding our expectations.

Many people in the time of Jesus thought they knew what sort of figure the Messiah would be. The Messiah was often referred to as “the son of David”, and the expectation was that he would be a leader like King David, a warrior-type king who would bring freedom to Israel by driving out the Romans. That, of course, was very far from the kind of Messiah Jesus turned out to be. And so, in today’s Gospel, he challenges peoples’ ideas. He quotes Psalm 110 to show that the Messiah is in fact David’s Lord, not his son, and so will be greater in every way than David, rather than a carbon copy of him. From that point on, people had to rethink their ideas of who the Messiah would be and what he would do. Paul reminds Timothy that things do not always work out the way you might expect. Those who do good end up being persecuted, as Paul himself was, while evil people seem to go along quite unhindered. Yet Paul encourages his friend to remain steadfast  in all the twists and turns of life, for Jesus will remain faithful to him.

Sometimes we might expect events to unfold in a certain way. We might think we know which events or initiatives will succeed or fail. We might expect life to proceed down a certain path, and then something happens which throws all our plans into disarray. The Christian life is not about everything unfolding according to a well ordered plan, nice as that might be sometimes! It’s often messy, unpredictable, and haphazard. Yet through all of that, we can trust that God’s purposes can be fulfilled even in chaos, for whatever else happens, he is always with us, and is always ready to surprise us.

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.