May 2024: Thought for the Day
Thought for the Day
May 2024
Sixth Sunday of Easter
5 May 2024
If I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13 4-6
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The Ascension of the Lord
12 May 2024 • World Communications Day
Leonardo da Vinci had started to work on a large canvas in his studio. Then suddenly he stopped working on it. Summoning one of his talented students, the master invited him to complete the work. The horrified student protested that he was both unworthy and unable to complete the great painting which his master had begun. But da Vinci silenced him. ‘Will not what I have done inspire you to do your best?’ Jesus our Master began to spread the Good News two thousand years ago by what he said and did, and supremely by what he suffered. Jesus illustrated his message and left us to finish the picture. This is the message of the Ascension.
Fr Anthony Kadavil
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Pentecost Sunday
19 May 2024
Growth, progress, economic interest and profit can often be pursued for their own sake, without any regard for the consequences for other areas of life, whether on the poor and excluded, or the environment, or on the global good of inclusion. The freedom given by the Spirit is not an individualistic freedom. The freedom that comes from the Spirit unites. We all need community, but we must all construct community. The ‘Creator Spirit’ is the one who helps us steer the path of human progress in another direction, within a framework respectful of God’s design for his creation, forcing us to transform our individualism and self-centeredness into a response of generosity.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin
Pentecost Reflection
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The Most Holy Trinity
26 May 2024
One of the key challenges today is that of individuality – when ‘I’ comes first, without thought of the other. I’m not surprised that we have lonely young people and lonely elderly people; it’s not surprising we have racist divisions – if ‘I’ is all that matters, I don’t need to worry about connecting to anyone else, or understanding anyone else, or being on the side of anyone else.Thinking about the Trinity brings us into a different way of thinking about ourselves and the world. When we enter into the mystery of the relationality of the Trinity, we can no longer exclude people. All are equally loved and valued by God.
Revd Dr Elizabeth Welch
www.standrewsalingurc.org