Dear friends in Christ

The Gospel at Mass this Sunday tells of the calling of the first Apostles: Peter, Andrew, James and John. They were fishermen and they left their nets the moment Jesus asked them to follow Him. Although this will strike us as dramatic, but as Jesus was such an attractive Person, that call would have been irresistible. Leaving their nets behind was a sign of their willingness to leave everything in order to be with Jesus. It speaks to us of the detachment necessary from anything which would inhibit our intimate relationship with Jesus and our close following of Him. Christian detachment has nothing to do with disdain for material goods, if they are acquired and used in accordance with God’s will. Rather it is to do with making the counsel of Our Lord a reality in our own lives: Seek first the Kingdom of God…and all these things will be given to you as well. If we seek God first, in and through all things and everyone, then He will also provide us with what is necessary for life on earth. If we have to speak of sacrifice, this is only so that we can be more detached from the world and attached to Jesus. The objective of the Christian life is not to accumulate more and more things, but to love Christ more and more. We might recall the sensitive and balanced words of the Advent Collect, which beautifully expresses this attitude, and makes us realise that we do not have to deny any of these worldly goods in order to live well here on earth: May these mysteries, O Lord, profit us we pray, for even now, as we walk amid passing things, You teach us by them to love the things of Heaven, and hold fast to what endures.

May God bless you!

Msgr Kevin Hale