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The Archbishop has decided that
it will not be possible to continue with public Sunday or Weekday Masses in the
Archdiocese of Dublin from Wednesday 25th March until further notice.
Each Saturday evening from 6pm the Sunday Liturgy will be
posted on this page.
5
Wednesday 01 April
John 8:31-42
To the Jews who believed in him Jesus said: ‘If you make my word your home you
will indeed be my disciples, you will learn the truth and the truth will make
you free.’ They answered, ‘We are descended from Abraham and we have never been
the slaves of anyone; what do you mean, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus replied:
‘I tell you most solemnly, everyone who commits sin is a slave. Now the slave’s
place in the house is not assured, but the son’s place is assured. So if the Son
makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are descended from
Abraham; but in spite of that you want to kill me because nothing I say has
penetrated into you. What I; for my part, speak of is what I have seen with my
Father; but you, you put into action the lessons learnt from your father.’ They
repeated, ‘Our father is Abraham.’ Jesus said to them: ‘If you were Abraham’s
children, you would do as Abraham did. As it is, you want to kill me when I tell
you the truth as I have learnt it from God; that is not what Abraham did. What
you are doing is what your father does.’ ‘We were not born of prostitution,’
they went on ‘we have one father: God.’ Jesus answered: ‘If God were your
father, you would love me, since I have come here from God; yes, I have come
from him; not that I came because I chose, no, I was sent, and by him.’
The gospel of John is rightly known as the gospel of love but it is in some ways
also the gospel of conflict. Someone once said the path of true love never runs
smooth. In John's gospel the very proclamation of true love seems to anger
people. True love requires honesty, True love requires the Truth and sometimes
we find it hard to face the Truth. Jesus was and is the Truth and it's our
relationship with him and through him our relationship with the Father, that
sets us free. Sin on the other hand takes away freedom and makes us slaves. What
is sin? It is not the same as "sins". What we have traditionally called sins,
that is, the nasty things we do to each other are symptoms of sin. Sin is to
live for oneself at the expense of everyone and everything else. It's when we no
longer own our possessions or position in life but when they own us. We live in
a world that sees personal success as the great goal. The world of Jesus, is a
world where "our" is more important than "mine". When Jesus spoke of being
'sent' by the Father, he was not speaking of being 'pushed' unwillingly into
something. It was his relationship of love with the father that was his driving
force. To be truly free is to be as he was, driven by Love. And when that
happens, we find ourselves responding to people and situations not because we
have have to, but because we truly want to. The freedom that Love brings gives
us instinctively a new and very different vision of life. What the 'Jews' saw as
freedom, that is, being descendants of Abraham was not freedom because it was no
more than adherence to law and tradition. True Love is always Truthful, though
to some it may seem incredibly foolish. Jesus was accused of being foolish,
accused of being insane. On "April fool's Day", it's a foolishness and insanity
I gladly embrace, because that foolishness and insanity leads to unstinting
generosity and love, as we have witnessed in so many ways at this incredibly
difficult time. This is no time for 'mé féin'. Only the Freedom and
Foolishness of God's love will suffice.
Song for the day
God's Own Fool sung by Michael Card
Feel free to contact us at the
email addresses
below.
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Office: 01-4530387 9.30am - 12noon, rita@francisstreetparish.ie
Outside Office hours: 01-5611390, franciss@francisstreetparish.ie
