This morning I travelled to Darfield for the 8.30 Mass. After Mass we shared a cuppa. There were many stories of survival and stories of suffering shared.
I arrived back at OLV just as parishioners were emerging from the 10.00am Mass. Again stories, suffering, survival.
Over the morning I spoke with a couple of different media people who were at OLV to report the feelings of people. I found these people, as were the couple on Wednesday evening, to be most respectful and sensitive.
I realised in chatting with them, that they were seeking people’s stories. They wanted to interview those who had been affected. I understand this. This is important. There would have been many church services around the city today that featured the stories of those who were suffering. Open microphones in the midst of services would have provided the opportunity for many to share and hear.
But I realised last night at OLV (6pm) and this morning at the Darfield and OLV Masses, that the Catholic Mass is different.
We gather here with our own stories, which we have shared during the week and continue to chat about over the cuppa after Mass. But the Mass is not primarily about our human story. It is the event at which we gather to hear God’s story.
And at our Masses this weekend, with the readings of the Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time, God once again did not miss this opportunity to speak to us, to encourage us, to love us:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink,
or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds in the sky;
they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns,
yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are not you more important than they?
Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
Why are you anxious about clothes?
Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.
They do not work or spin.
But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor
was clothed like one of them.
If God so clothes the grass of the field,
which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow,
will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’
or ‘What are we to drink?’or ‘What are we to wear?’
All these things the pagans seek.
Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given you besides.
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.
Each day has enough suffering of its own.”
Matthew 6:24-34
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