At Mass this weekend, we heard a Pastoral Letter from our Diocesan Administrator, Monsignor Tom McGovern. You can read the letter here.
I particularly liked this section about different aspects of the mission of the Church:
In her preaching of the Gospel, her celebration of the sacred liturgy and the sacraments, and her service of the wider community, the Church continues John the Baptist’s mission as the voice crying in the wilderness of the world in which we live. Whether it is her call for all people to repent of their sins and accept for themselves the salvation Christ freely offers us; her constant defence of the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death; her teaching that we should seek to live like Jesus in everything that we say and do; her vision of a different and better future for all the peoples of the world so that they may live in peace and fellowship enjoying the fruits of God’s Creation; her support of marriage and the family as being the bedrock of society; her giving a voice to the voiceless in their thirst for justice; her worship of God in Spirit and truth – in all these things, the Church is a voice crying in the wilderness, calling us to prepare a way for the Lord and helping us to live holy lives.The letter makes two suggestions about ways in which we can straighten the Lord's path in our lives:
First, Advent, like Lent, is a good time for us to go to confession. The sacrament of reconciliation calls us back to God and restores the grace of our Baptism, when we were first consecrated to share in Jesus’ mission as Priest, Prophet and King; we humbly acknowledge our need of God, admit that we are not at the centre of our own universe, and receive the forgiveness which the Father freely offers us in Christ. When he was elected, Pope Francis said, ‘I am a sinner, but I trust in the infinite mercy and patience of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ This is a profession of faith that it would be good for all of us to make this Advent; let us use these few weeks to rebalance our lives, to make sure that Jesus is at the very heart of them.
The second way is one in which we can help our friends and neighbours who used to join us for Mass on Sundays but maybe now do not. Why not invite them to join you for Mass? Or, even better, what about offering to walk with them or give them a lift next Sunday? It can be very easy to slip away from the practice of the faith and find excuses not to gather for Mass. But just as we make a big effort to gather our families around us on Christmas Day, we should make an effort to gather together as God’s family in his house every Sunday – and we should not leave the ministry of welcoming God’s people to others. As Catholics, the Mass is the source and summit, the beginning and end, of our week – and it is something that we should want to share with others when we are sent out at the end of each Mass on our mission to glorify the Lord in our daily lives.
