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The 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

2nd August 2020

Dear Friends,

 
‘This is a lonely place’, say the disciples in today’s gospel reading. In the great multiplication of loaves and fishes - an increase so great that none were left hungry - Jesus reminds us that where he is there can be no lonely place, no corner where the light does not get in, no centre where the poor are left hungry or the thirsty are without drink. The reason for this, of course, is that Christ’s offering is foremost a giving of himself. This is not an offering extrinsic to his being: it is him, totally and completely. An offering of the God who fills all in all. It is the shocking reality of the Christian faith that God does not simply speak to us in words or symbols but in a person who lives as he will die: it is always sacrifice, always self-offering, always unfathomable, incomprehensible love.
So the Christian must do his or her best at imitation of the perfect, no matter how many times our own offering falls far short of the extravagance of the Galilean miracles. Paltry they may be, but these faltering steps will give to a hungry world the means of satisfaction - for he will always make up what is lacking in our endeavours, and multiply the good that we offer. Our hymn speaks the prayer that should always be on our lips:

Be our strength in hours of weakness,
in our wanderings be our guide;
Through endeavour, failure, danger,
Saviour, be thou at our side.

You can listen to Father, hear the prayer we offer by clicking here

Stephen Paulus, a contemporary American composer, composed the rather beautiful church opera The Three Hermits in 1997, based on a story by Leo Tolstoy and seeking words from the Russian Orthodox liturgy. In what has become an anthem distinct from the opera itself, Pilgrims’ Hymn reminds us that our worship of God is to be based on trust in the Grace that surpasses all we can know. You can listen to it by clicking here

Even before we call on Your name
  To ask You, O God,
When we seek for the words to glorify You,
  You hear our prayer;
Unceasing love, O unceasing love,
  Surpassing all we know.

Glory to the Father,
  and to the Son,
And to the Holy Spirit.

Even with darkness sealing us in,
  We breathe Your name,
And through all the days that follow so fast,
  We trust in You;
Endless Your grace, O endless Your grace,
  Beyond all mortal dream.

Both now and forever,
  And unto ages and ages, Amen
 

 

With love,
Simon
 
Our Lady, S.Pancras and all the Saints Pray For Us
Copyright © 2020 Parish of Old St Pancras, All rights reserved.


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