The Archbishop has requested that we ring the bell every day at noon and say this Angelus prayer together

Angelus

God Bless the world
Give it wisdom at this time
Grant us relief and release
Be with those who are ill
And bless the carers fighting this pandemic

For Jesus Christ sake.
Amen

Reading for Today  :   27 April 2020 

Acts 6 : 8 – 15                    Psalm  119 : 161 – 168                 John 6 : 22 – 29

Today in South Africa we celebrate Freedom Day!

Today 26 years ago, in 1994 we stood in long queues to vote for and be change.

Today we are asked to stay at home, to take various precautions and to bring change, as we flatten the curve. 

How is this freedom we may ask? 

Freedom is more than long queues and crosses, it is more than a call from the President of the country to stay home. 

What have we been able to learn during lockdown?   

 We wake up every day go to school, do work, and stay active. Most of what we do centres on the focus to make money, seeing to myself and my family or in preparation for a future profession or my future. 

 We spend so much time and energy looking and searching, working to bring in and live “better” to  have more, praying, asking Jesus to sustain us in this life which we have created. We are a lot like the disciples, searching for Jesus in a world that is not His. 

What is essential?  

Jesus in today’s Gospel,  points out that in looking for him and listening to him, the crowd totally missed out on the real Good News of eternal life.  They weren’t really open to His message or even to His presence because they were totally focused on their own immediate concerns and needs, what Jesus rightly identifies as “food that perishes.”

For us, 2000 years later, a great way to reflect upon, pray over, and learn from these readings is to examine ourselves.  How do we look and listen, and recognize?  What keeps us from seeing, hearing, believing and living the Good News of Jesus Christ?  Each day let us say, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice in it!”  May we look upon each moment, each encounter, each person, each duty, each opportunity, as God’s  grace to us.  Let us celebrate the sacrament of the present moment.  May we live lives filled with what is essential in life, that which brings life to us and to others.  May we be freedom bringers and bearers as we see and celebrate the image of God in all people. Then we will be doing what Jesus calls, God’s work: believing in the One God sent. 

Let us Pray :

Our living God,
we hunger for lasting life and happiness
and the fulfilment of all our hopes.
Satisfy all our hungers
through your Son Jesus Christ, who is our bread of life.
And when he has filled us with himself,
may he lead and strengthen us
to bring to a waiting world
the food of reconciliation and joy,
which you alone can give to the full.
We ask this thorough Christ our Lord.

Amen.