Message of Abbot Paul - Sunday 5th February 2023
Abbot Paul • February 5, 2023
Today, Churches throughout the world are keeping Racial Justice Sunday, when together Christians focus on the need to oppose racism and pursue racial justice with renewed vigour in fidelity to the Gospel of Christ and the will of God the Father, following the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This year the theme for Racial Justice Sunday is: “All are included in the mission of Christ and His Church. Let us walk together, pray together and work together.” It reflects the role each of us must play in promoting the mission of Christ and His Church. This was inspired by conversations around last year’s Racial Justice Sunday and Pope Francis’ visit to Canada in July 2022, when he spoke about looking towards a future of ‘justice, healing and reconciliation’. There is a powerful prayer we can use today and at any other time.
God of our past, present and future,
you created each one of us in your image and likeness,
help us to recognise you in each person.
As we pray for end to suffering caused by racism
lead us this day to walk with one another,
pray with one another and work together,
so that we create a future based on justice and healing,
where all can fulfil the hope you have for all peoples.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen
Our Gospel reading this Sunday follows on from the Beatitudes, that we read last Sunday. We are in Matthew, (Mt 5: 13-16), reading the Sermon on the Mount.
“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing, and can only be thrown out to be trampled underfoot by men.
‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine in the sight of men, so that, seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father in heaven.’”
Jesus tells us, his disciples, that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, that the living and proclaiming of the Gospel life depends on each one of us, no one can leave it to others and say, ‘this doesn’t concern me’ because it does. You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world, not someone else. That is why racial justice depends on each one of us, we all have a role to play in making this a better world for everyone. Jesus also spoke of himself as being the Light of the world, so the more united we are with Jesus, the more likely we are to become the light of the world too, as we reflect from the very depth of our being Christ’s own light and the gift of the Spirit, symbolised in the salt, for we are also the salt of the earth. If Jesus has asked us to do this, then he will give us the grace to fulfil his commandment.
Here is another prayer, addressed to the Holy Spirit:
Come, Holy Spirit, show us your beauty,
reflected in all the peoples of the earth,
so that we may discover anew
that all are important and all are necessary,
different faces of the one humanity
that God so loves.
Amen.
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