Father Philip Writes...

June 2021

June is often dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus – a feast that draws us to think about God’s great love for us as shown in the life of Christ.
There is a story of a park keeper whose job was to pick up litter on a spiked pole. He was surrounded by the glorious beauty of flowers and trees, with the sun sparkling through the leaves. Sadly he had eyes only for the litter he had to collect and the damage it did. He could only say, “This litter destroys the nature in this park!” 
​Unfortunately he was blind to its beauty because he didn’t lift up his head to look around.
The Pharisees in Jesus’ day were so focussed on the wickedness of other people – tax collectors and sinners –  that they couldn’t see the fresh Spring leaves of God’s love changing, forgiving and healing.
 They could only see litter.
When Jesus was criticised for keeping company with sinners he said that he had not come for those who thought they were righteous but for those who humbly recognised the need to change their lives..
“It Is not those that are well who need the doctor, but the sick. I have come to call not the upright but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5 v 31-31)
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We must never let our sins paralyse us. Fr John Powell tells the story of a woman who decided to swim out into the ocean beyond the point of return. Before doing so, she walked along the deserted beach to say her tearful farewells to the world.
Suddenly a voice seemed to say, “Look back!” She did and saw her own footprints. While she watched, a wave erased them. Then a voice seemed to say: “As that wave erased your footprints, so I will erase your past.” That event was the starting point of a new life for her.
​The Book of Jonah in the Old Testament is a story that reminds us of God’s love and forgiveness.  It reminds us that God’s love is not limited to a particular group of people – in which we usually include ourselves – but is offered to everyone who desires to do what is right; those we may not like and those the other side of the world. 
Jonah tried to run away from that kind of God, but God wouldn’t let him get away with it. Jonah was delivered to the very people he sought to avoid – the hated Ninevites in Assyria.
St Augustine wrote:
​ “To him who is everywhere men come not by travelling but by loving.”
In this month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus we can ask ourselves: 
  • * Am I like Jonah, running away from something God wants me to do?
  • * What is my attitude toward people who are different from me?
  • * How can my understanding of them grow?
At St Mary’s there is a warm, non-judgmental attitude to all who are searching for a deeper faith in Jesus Christ.
You are welcome to experience it for yourself.
A Thought for Corpus Christi (6th June)
from a very early Christian Saint, St Justin Martyr (AD 100 – 165)
 
St Justin describes how the early Church celebrated Mass ….. 
see how closely our worship today follows this format!
 
“On Sundays there is an assembly of all who live in towns or in the country and the memoirs of the Apostles or the writings of the prophets are read as long as time allows. Then the reading is brought to an end and the president delivers an address in which he admonishes and encourages us to imitate in our own lives the beautiful lesson we have heard read.

Then we stand up together and pray. When we have finished the prayer, as I have said, bread and wine and water are brought up. The president offers prayers and thanksgiving as best he can and the people say “Amen” as an expression of their agreement.
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Then follows the distribution of the food, over which the prayer of thanksgiving has been recited; all present receive some of it and the deacons carry some to those who are absent.”
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