Twenty-fourth Sunday of the Year

image

Dear friends in Christ

The Gospel of St Luke is often called The Gospel of Mercy and this is a happy coincidence for this Year of Mercy which concludes in November. Many of the parables in his Gospel refer to the infinite mercy of God and we have some examples in the Gospel reading this Sunday. The central figure in these parables is God Himself. He does everything He can to recover His children who are lost. He is the Good Shepherd who goes in search of the lost sheep. God is also represented in the woman who loses the coin and sweeps out the house in order to find it. The incredible mercy of God is our motivation for repentance and the place where this is definitely found is in Confession, the Sacrament of Mercy. In this special Year of Mercy, if we are still hesitating, let us approach the mercy of God in this Sacrament with joy and confidence. We have only to take one small step towards Our Lord and He comes the rest of the way; we have only to confess our failings and we infallibly hear the words: Yours sins are forgiven, go in peace. Let Saint Luke’s Gospel touch us especially deeply in this Jubilee Year, so that renewed by God’s mercy, we may experience the meaning of what it is to live in the freedom of the Children of God.

This Monday I shall continue with my second of the Talks for non-Catholics on the Faith with some thoughts about the Mass. These Talks could be helpful and informative for anyone - family members or friends - who would like to discover more about our beautiful Catholic faith and who may even be considering entering the Church in the future. 

September is the Society of the St Vincent de Paul Awareness month.  This weekend one of the members of our local conference will be making an appeal on behalf of the Society.  Please support the SVP as generously as you can for their important charitable work within our Parish Family.

God bless you all!

Msgr Kevin Hale