Fifth of Year A
February 2011
‘If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and He will say, Here I am.’
Prayer in the family, prayer groups and meditation groups, beautiful liturgies in lovingly decorated churches, attendance without fail at weekend masses, all are great and even necessary for Christian living. But I do not consider these as our first priority in being Christians. Are there poor or deprived in our community? Are there the sick and housebound? Are there the old or the lonely? Are there those who need someone to talk to and to listen to them? Why do we have a parish project every year. Why do we continue to collect for Mongu Cheshire home? Why do we push Fair Trade goods? Why do we have a care group? Why do we have a monthly mass and refreshments for senior parishioners? Why do we have a party for the elderly parishioners? Why do so many help to bring people to church? Why do so many bring the Eucharist to the housebound? Why do so many visit the sick? Why do we donate food to the homeless? Why do so many put themselves forward to raise money for worthy causes and give to such causes? Etc.
The answer is that these things are, and must be, our first priority as a Christian community. If I am not in some way involved in these things: if I am not donating my time and/or my money to these things, then all my prayer and church going, all my meditation and bible study are so much salt which has gone flat, a light shining brightly under a bucket. I consider it a priority that our parish should regularly remind its members of this and continually present them with opportunities to ‘bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted.’ Then, and only then, will God my Father take my prayer and worship seriously.