Dear Friends in christ

The Liturgy of the Word for this Sunday reminds us that every Christian is called to extend the Kingdom of Christ. Every circumstance of life is a good opportunity for being about an extension of Faith in society and in the world. Jesus reproves the exclusive mentality of his disciples. He opens their eyes to a work which is wide-ranging in it's dimensions. As Christians, we never have a 'one party' mentality which would lead us to reject legitimate diversity in the work of the Church, or just focus on one group or apostolate. If you have the Heart of Christ, then diversity is always good and unity in diversity is a cause for rejoicing. The absolutely essential thing is that Christ be known and loved, because the Gospel has to reach every corner of the earth and touch every soul.

Next week has been allocated to us for a Mission Appeal which will be preached on behalf of the Vincentian Community. We will welcome to the Parish Fr Paul Roche CM, and I am sure you will respond to this with your usual generosity. We support a number of different Charities in our Parish, and each is very deserving of our help. We try to ensure that there is an equitable distribution of time and resources given to each of them, and I know that you will appreciate that no one of our Catholic Charities is given greater prominence than others. In addition to Cafod - which we continue to support in the usual ways - there are other deserving Charities that I would also encourage you to help, like Aid to the Church in Need which is a Pontifical Charity, that is, the special Charity of the Pope himself, to help those of our suffering brothers and sisters in parts of the Church where the Church is persecuted.

God bless you all and reward you for your continued generosity!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Priest@LourdesLeigh.org ✚ 01702 478078

Homily available at LourdesLeigh.org