Here we are at the end of June after 13 weeks of COVID 19 lockdown. if times were normal the schools would be closing for the summer holidays as it is the schools have been closed for the past few months with everyone wondering what things will be like when the schools reopen. This weekend we remember the family of Noah Donohue as we hear the sad news that a body has been recovered we pray that God may give his family and friends strength at this sad time.
In our Gospel story for this Sunday we are reminded that The priority of faith demanded radical consequences for early Christians. At that time extended closely-knit families formed the basis of society, a choice for a follower of Christ could mean a rejection of the family’s faith and values. Jesus reminded his followers that the Christian life involved many risks and one could not compromise or hide these risks away a believer could not placate his or her family if the cost threatened faith. The people of the day thought that No, faith could involve such an extreme choice.
Either the relationship with family took priority or the relationship with Jesus took the number one slot it seemed that both could not go together. Even though they had only a very vague idea then of what he meant, when the time came, they remembered Jesus words and gladly suffered imprisonment, hardships, and finally martyrdom for Christ. This shows how the resurrection of Christ, and the descent of the Holy Spirit on them, changed them from worldly weaklings into fearless heroes. They had become convinced that Christ was the Son of God their saviour who had come on earth to bring all men to heaven. Through time they came to realize how unimportant, the few years of the earthly life that we have were compared to the eternal life of bliss to follow. Today, too, there are still those who are suffering a lingering martyrdom, worse than quick death on the scaffold, because they obey God rather than man. We can help them to persevere, by our prayers. We ourselves, who are free from any overt persecution, must show our gratitude to God for being allowed to practice our religion openly and without fear. As well as carrying out our own personal duties, we must remember the spiritual needs of our fellowmen. They, too, need to get to heaven and anything less will be eternal disaster for them.
We may not be able to preach, or teach them the truth of the Christian faith in the way our priests deacons and religious do but we can show them the way when we are seen to live according to our Catholic faith.Over the next few weeks and months we will come out of the lockdown as we try to move into a more normal way of life. Many things will be changed and our ways of going around and doing things will be different but for all of this we thank God that all of us have come through it safely. As we thank God for bringing us safely to where we are we also remember all those who have died during the pandemic that their families will be consoled by their faith and the love of those around them. May we have the courage to be people of faith as we go into the new future which the Covid19 pandemic has brought us.
Fullerton T 