6^th March 2011

FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

To the person who does not listen to these words of Jesus and practise them, then their house shall fall.  What are these words?  The quote comes immediately after the Sermon on the Mount, what I call Jesus’ blueprint for life.  Jesus laid down very specific and concrete ways that the person of faith is to practise of we are to achieve salvation.  The issue is that in all our endeavours we are all building. 

But how do we build?  We either do it wisely or foolishly.  We have so many examples in daily life of foolish construction.  Yet in our spiritual life the same exists.  When we seek to do it our way and on our own terms, then we go against the grain – we choose to build our house on our own foundations and not on the words as set out by Jesus.  When we choose the way of selfishness and pride, when we choose the way of intolerance and unforgiveness, when we choose to live lives rooted in pride and arrogance, then we are building a house that shall fall when the time of testing comes. 

Testing comes by way of the daily occurrences of life when our faith must rise to the challenges as set out before us.  Can your faith stand up to the testing and challenges of our time or do you crumble when faced with issues which demand a response of mercy, tolerance, peace, hope, trust and honesty?  What is the quality of the house that you are building?

As we move into the season of Lent, let us use this time of closer personal scrutiny and so come to Easter as a renewed and stronger person of faith.

Monsignor Michael Lewis

Pastor