17th May 2009
The secular world has long moved on from the celebration of Easter and yet five weeks on the Church is very much still in celebratory mode as it lives with joy these 50 days of Easter. During these days we recall above all the triumph of Jesus over the powers of sin and death. Today our readings are attempting to get across to us that the God we believe in has a name, love. And that the whole Jesus event was his attempt to let us see exactly what he was like, and having found out he expects us to love one another in return.
You will notice at Christmas Time that the Churches are packed with people, less so at Easter. Maybe people are more drawn to the image of a baby lying in straw, than to an empty tomb. Yet Easter is more central than Christmas, Easter shows us the depth of God’s love for the world, a love that was willing to become vulnerable, a love that gave until the very end. There is a magnificent sculpture in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome by Michelangelo called the Pieta. In it we see Mary tenderly cradling her Son after his death on the Cross. Though it is a sculpture it seams to come alive to all who gaze upon it. Remember it was the same Jesus who she cradled on that night in Bethlehem who was placed into her arms on that Good Friday. Bethlehem and Golgotha are part of the same love story of our God who asks us to love as he has loved us.
How can we do that? I am always very moved when I hear in Confession adults using the news act of sorrow that the children use in school. It reflects very well how God wants us to live our lives, to be thankful for his love, to be sorry for our sins, for the times we have not loved others or him, and most of all an appeal to help us to live like Jesus. If you allow yourself to love or to be loved you are indeed sharing already in the very life of God. May Mary in this Month of May help us to love God as she did, to be open to whatever he asks us of us, and to have faith even when we doubt. Amen.
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Homilies Archive
17nd May 2009
26th April 2009
3rd Sunday of Easter
12th April 2009
Easter Sunday
9th April 2009
Holy Thursday
29th March 2009
5th Sunday in Lent
22nd March 2009
4th Sunday in Lent
17th March 2009
St Patrick's Day
15th March 2009
3rd Sunday in Lent
8th March 2009
2nd Sunday in Lent
1st March 2009
1st Sunday in Lent
25th February 2009
Ash Wednesday
22nd February 2009
8th February 2009
1st February 2009
25th January 2009
18th January 2009
11th January 2009
Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
6th January 2009
Feast of the Epiphany
4th January 2009
2008 HOMILIES ARCHIVE
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