SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (C)
(Racial Justice Day)
13th February 2022

Dear Parishioner

Jesus with his disciples comes down to the level ground and people gather around him. Yes, God always descends to our aid. Let us think of those times when we relied on our goodness and came up short and frustrated. But even in our frustration, God remains with us, giving us strength through his grace. We are called to remember and give praise to God for this grace. When we admit and accept our weakness, turning to Christ and allowing him to act as God in our life that's when we grow spiritually. Christ knows our human condition and how we are prone to good and evil alike and that at times our decisions can be harmful beyond any repair. But, looking at our weakness and the strength of our God working in us, let's exclaim with Paul, "When I am weak, then I am strong."

On the day of his inauguration Pope Saint John Paul II forcefully proclaimed that Christ knows what is in man. Only he knows, and what is most heartening is that Jesus isn't shaken. Jesus always sees in us a great potentiality for holiness and therefore the Holy Spirit, inspires us to greater levels of virtues. He will enrich us in our weakness and our limitations like St. Peter in the last Sunday. Thus, "With the light of God, the soul makes steady progress in seeing its own misery. We can always sink deeper into our misery. And thereby more sweetly enjoy his caresses and more intimately experience the charm of his divine presence."

Jesus begins his discourse praising poverty of spirit. As Jesus raised his eyes to the crowd, his gaze penetrated their interior fortress - the heart. The heart is made for love, but there within, a spiritual war wages battle between loving God or loving creatures, which is the love of self. There in the heart, battle for God's will and plan must be waged relentlessly, because life and eternity are "for keeps". "For it is impossible to achieve perfection without renouncing our possessions, without freeing our hearts of them. God will not take full possession of our hearts until everything else has been expelled. As long as the root of the last disordered affection that abides in us is not eradicated, the love of God cannot reign with full sovereignty."

Fr Jijo George

Notices:
Please remember to pray for:

Daily for the sick clergy of our Diocese

The sick and housebound

Those who have recently died

Years Mind:
Sunday: Fr Charles Snell
Monday: Bill Redfern
Thursday: Fr John Joyce
Saturday: Jean Pearson, Fr Thomas O'Connor, Fr Archibald O'Brien