In today’s Gospel we heard three or four somewhat disparate sayings of Jesus. These are part of a series of five or six which St. Mark has grouped together here. They are united by linking “catch words”. Also there’s a general theme of belonging to Jesus, or not; and the ultimate consequences of that.
I should like to focus now on the last of our sayings today: the really shocking one about millstones around necks, and hands and feet being chopped off, and eyes gouged out.
St. Margaret’s Forres Supply
There are two attitudes, or mind-sets, or approaches to life. They areradically different, and opposed to one another. One is worldly, the other Christian. The worldly attitude puts self first, and seeks to gain what it can for whatever seems good for Me. The Christian attitude puts self aside, or even puts self to death (cf. Rm 8:13, Col 3:5 etc.). Instead it looks to Jesus, to God; seeking always and above all to follow Jesus, to belong to him, to be united with him.
Elgin Cathedral was founded by King Alexander II 800 years ago, in the year 1224.
Historic Scotland, who own and maintain the site, have done their best to mark this significant anniversary. But among all the events and promotions, there seems to have been no Christian religious service included anywhere.
As everyone here is intensely aware, this year our Sunday Gospels are generally taken from St. Mark. But because this Gospel is so short, when we come to the feeding of the 5,000, the lectionary switches instead to Chapter 6 of St. John’s Gospel. This Chapter begins with St. John’s account of the feeding of the 5,000, and then continues on with the long Bread of Life discourse that follows. We shall read extracts from that discourse over the next 4 Sundays.
When St. Paul fell off his horse on the road to Damascus, blinded by light from heaven, his life, his outlook, his mission was turned upside down. What Paul saw, or encountered then was Jesus Christ. And in that moment he understood, with unbreakable conviction, that he had been wrong, wrong, wrong. Jesus was not an enemy, a blasphemer, a false prophet, a corrupter of Israel, as Paul had previously thought.
In today’s first reading we meet Ezekiel at the beginning of his prophetic ministry. The year is 592 BC. He is one of the many inhabitants of Jerusalem taken in the first wave of the deportations to Babylon. It is by one of the rivers of Babylon that we find Ezekiel. He has been commissioned by God to be a prophet to the Israelites in captivity.
The 1960s compilers of our current lectionary offer us a series of readings these Sundays from 2 Corinthians. There are 7 little snippets or extracts, given for the second reading at Mass, for Sundays 7 to 14. We missed the first 3 in the series because of Pentecost, then Trinity Sunday, then Corpus Christi. So we’re starting now today, on the 10th Sunday, with a little passage from the end of 2 Corinthians Chapter 4.
Heavenly Father, You so loved the world that You sent Your only Begotten Son to be one of us, not to condemn the world but to redeem the world. Before Your Son went to the Cross to destroy the power of sin and death, he prayed to You. And in this prayer he said that before the foundation of the world, before anything was ever made, he shared Your glory as Your only begotten Son. This love You have for Your Son, this glory You give to Him, is the Holy Spirit. This same love and glory Jesus gives to us so that we may be one, as You and the Son are One.
Popular now: Daily timetable • Light a candle • Music • News • Retreats • Shop • South Range appeal • Subscribe