Bulletins

In many countries there is a shortage of food. Every day hundreds of children all over the world die of hunger. For many families the struggle for daily life is the only thing they can think of. They cannot enjoy life. In such times, what does it mean for us Christians to gather around this table for the sacred meal of Holy Communion? In one sentence we can answer: our gathering here on this Sunday is a sign of hope, and a reminder of our task.

When you decided to come to church this today, some of you may have had to make the difficult decision to leave other important maters behind. When you decided to come to mass this today you were like the person who knew about a hidden treasure in a field, and who sold everything to buy that field. However, at times during this past week, you may not have made the right decision and have chosen the wrong path. Thus, you are here to seek God’s forgiveness.

God is Holy. He hates evil. Why then does he not remove by force the evil from this world? When we hear about murders, wars, or grave injustices, we want God to come with power and to exterminate those who do evil. But would God not have to annihilate us as well? Did not we to cause evil to others at one time or another? We begin to see the wisdom of God’s patience with us. Today we stand in deep admiration before God who in infinitely holy and patient with those who fail to be holy.

Nobody forced us to come to church today. We freely accepted the invitation of God. The inviting Word of God was sown into us like a small, seemingly powerless seed. The germination of the seed within us depends on our acceptance of the word. The fact that we are here is some sign that we are willing to let Gods seed grow in us. Sometimes we know we are not good soil for God’s Word so we have to ask for forgiveness.

If you want to achieve something in life, you need to be a hard and powerful person. This is what many people say. But, it is not what Christ says. He praised the humble. And he was a humble, gentle person himself. We are his disciples. We have promised that we will follow his way. But we have not always done so and therefore we need to ask for God’s pardon and forgiveness.