Seventh Sunday of the Year

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You cannot and should not erase Christian foundations from the evolution of our nations anymore than you can erase spires from our landscapes” This is a quote from Baroness Warsi which in on the front of the Catholic Tablet this weekend. The question for me is that many would claim that we are now living in a secular country and therefore there is no place for Religion in it. It seems to me that actually it is the other way round. Because we live in a “Secular society” there is a greater need for Religion in society. There has always been a need for God in our lives.  Even Richard Dawkins a well know atheist said in an interview on the Today programme in frustration “Oh God” when asked what the full title of the Darwin’s book The Origin of Species.
Within the Gospel today we see that Mark brings us closer to Jesus. We also see three sets of people. Looking up he saw friends and faith looking around he saw critics and negativity looking within he saw faith in some and sin in others.
This is an image of society. We can see different kinds of people in society. We know that there are many people of faith striving to preach the Good news by what they do and say. We can also and must recognize that we are not perfect so our need of God is ever more present that he not only heals our but also our soul too he picks us up and forgives our sins.

The one group though that Jesus deals with by healing the paralytic and is also an issue especially for us today is dealing with the critics of this world.  He looks into their hearts. By his action he shows his authority. And I think this is a good lesson to learn on how we can deal with people who are trying to make our society more and more secular. As we heard from the quote I said at the beginning in this country especially the Christian faith flows through the very fabric of our society. I feel strongly that we should stand up for our faith is vocal in promoting who and what we stand for.  We also need to be careful that we do get depressed by what is happening or not happening in our country. 

There are signs of hope: the Papal visit in 2010 and locally the young people with strong faith preparing to go to WYD and those who performed in the parish Panto: The fact that we have so many people coming to Mass here in Bognor. These are all signs of hope and show that we do not live in a secular society. Largely people have some faith even it is as small as mustard seed.

We have sometimes been quite shy about promoting our faith in this country. This has ever been because of persecution or because of being English. We need to challenge society and also be a voice in our secular society.

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