Thursday 30 May 2024

Today is Thursday 30 May, in the 8th week of Ordinary Time.

Salt of the Sound sings Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.

It is in these words that we admit we are not perfect, but that we have faults and failings, and trusting in God’s infinite, inexhaustible mercy and compassion, we place ourselves, with all our strengths and weaknesses, in God’s hands. And I can do the same now, as I begin to pray.

Today’s reading is from the First Letter of Peter.

1 Peter 2:2-5, 9-12

Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honourably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honourable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge.

Being “a royal priesthood”, sounds like being part of an exclusive club. But this club isn't about power or status; it's about service and solidarity. It's a community, a spiritual house, in which each one of us is bricks and mortar. How do you feel about the part you play in that community? Do you see yourself, as Peter tells us here, as part of the priesthood of Jesus?

Peter ends by stressing God’s mercy – without which none of this would be possible. What things today stop me from accepting God’s mercy?

As you listen to the reading again, reflect on this great gift of mercy. Let God’s mercy fill you.

Perhaps you can talk to God now about your reactions to this message. What are the ways in which you play your part in this “royal priesthood”? What are the ways in which you show the grace and the glory of God?

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.