Welcoming those not like us

Sunday 28 June 2026

Lectio Divina:*

Picture sourced here 2 Kings 4:8-16 Psalm 89

Romans 6:3-11 Matthew 10:37-42

Meditatio:

‘..whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me’ (Matthew 10:37)

Commentary:

There is so much to be thankful for: family, friends, good weather, and - if we are fortunate - health. Yet suffering knocks on the door of everyone at some stage. There are the ordinary, everyday sufferings arising from physical discomfort or pain, as well as the trials of making ends meet, holding down a job, dealing with difficult people, facing ourselves as we are, and not knowing what tomorrow may bring.

Silence and listening

How might our parish churches look like in 2050 #6

It seems to me that people hunger, thirst, and cry out inwardly simply to be heard — by someone, anyone, at some moment, in some way. A lack of opportunity, space, or means to be listened to lies at the heart of many personal and societal wounds. We carry so much within us, and often we do not even know the half of it.

Mass crawling

 

A particular item screened on RTE television caught my attention the other day.  It featured three ‘lads’ who, instead of the traditional pub crawl at Christmas, went on a ‘Mass crawl’ beginning in November 2024.  They have managed to visit and attend the Holy Mass in over 50 places across counties Wicklow, Kildare, Carlow and further afield.  Make you want you wish from the item here. In the telling of the story I thought that were something decisively Emmaus-like (Luke 24:13-35) about this Eucharistic journey. They went as ‘two or three’ (Matthew 18:20) and not three separate individuals.  Was it a case of their thinking ‘Were not our hearts burning within us?’. 

Wanted and welcomed

 

Sometimes people question why bother with church or prayer or mass?  We search for reasons as to why, nowadays, so few attend mass on a regular weekly basis. We speculate about the manifold influences of secularism, popular culture, relevance, the scandals, the pressures of life and so on. But, perhaps there is a more basic root cause of a lack of attendance?

What if people really felt wanted and welcomed at their local parish mass and community? What if their experience of joining with other believers (including people with doubts, questions and struggles) was so uplifting and so life-giving that they wanted to come back the next week?