Dear Friends in christ

Over the coming five weeks, and corresponding with the Summer vacation, we shall hear chapter six of St John’s Gospel being read at Mass. It begins with the feeding of the five thousand and is a prelude to the teaching of Jesus as the Bread of Life. After everyone had eaten, Jesus took advantage of the opportunity to teach his Apostles a lesson about the importance of little things. When they had eaten their fill, he told His disciples to gather up the fragments left over, but nothing may be lost. So they gathered up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves. Jesus shows us His generosity in two ways: first by giving to the people as much as they wanted and secondly by making sure nothing was wasted. He educates by means of dramatic action as well as through insignificant detail. The collecting of the leftovers is a way of showing us the value of little things done out of love for God: cleanliness, orderliness, and finishing our work well with perfection. Christ spent the better part of thirty years doing just ordinary everyday things. But according to the Gospels He did this whilst remaining in continual conversation and union with His heavenly Father. Over these coming weeks we shall use the opportunity of the Homily at Mass to go through some of the important aspects of the Church's teaching on the Blessed Eucharist. This is because the Eucharist is the greatest possession of the Church - The Mystery of Faith - and by our continual reflection, veneration and devotion to this mystery, enter ever more deeply into the life of God Himself.

May God bless you all in these days of rest and vacation!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Priest@LourdesLeigh.org ✚ 01702 478078
Homily available at LourdesLeigh.org