Dear Friends in Christ
The First Reading of the Mass this weekend tells of the expulsion of our first parents from paradise. This is a sign that men and women would come into the world in a state of separation from God; we call it Original Sin. They lost the inheritance that they should have left to their descendants; the consequences of their sin of disobedience were immediately experienced by the offspring of Adam and Eve: Cain killed Abel out of envy. In the same way all evil, be it personal or social, finds it origin in the sin of the first man. Baptism completely forgives the guilt and the punishment of Original Sin, but it does not free us from its effects. Man remains prone to error and to death; Original Sin was a sin of pride. Each of us falls into the same temptation of pride when we seek to occupy - in society, in our private lives, in everything - the place that belongs to God. When we see ourselves confronted with a world that sometimes seems to be profoundly disturbed, we cannot simply fold our arms and shrug like a person overwhelmed by a situation about which he can do nothing. We may not be capable of making great life-changing decisions, but we do have to play our part in those matters that God has put within our reach, so as to give life and our world a Christian orientation and purpose.
The first Meeting of our Parish Evangelisation Team (PET) took place on Thursday and a number of good ideas have been aired which we can explore in the months ahead. Everyone in the Parish is part of this Team since the work of spreading the Faith is a work for all of us. The PET will meet every first Thursday of the month, 8-9pm. Last Sunday, our Corpus Christi Procession was another sign of our witness and evangelisation and as ever, it was good to see how many people came along to profess Faith in Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament. Thank you to all those who participated and helped: the Altar Servers, Catechists, Tilbury Brass Band and the Ladies who provided the Tea afterwards.
God bless you all!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Priest@LourdesLeigh.org ✚ 01702 478078
Homily available at LourdesLeigh.org