Sunday Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons - 15 February 2015

Fr Robin Gibbons

6th Sunday 15th February 2015

Let’s start with Paul’s exhortation to us in 1 Corinthians, it’s a reminder of what we should be, especially as Lent begins for many of us this week, (I say many, because some of our Eastern Christians follow a slightly different calendar and so start on the 23rd February).

It’s a simple mantra: imitate good models of faith, give glory to God by what we do and say and pray. Don’t be offensive, try to be pleasant; don’t be selfish, think of others! Easy? No, it’s a tough call!

Who are the good models of faith in your life, and I mean living persons? Am I one for others? Paul says something very important for our situation. We need models of faithful, intelligent and good Christians in our world, how else are we going to proclaim the gospel to so many diverse peoples?

This week a YouGov/Times Poll gave statistics for the growth of atheism declaring that 42% of British people have no belief. Is this really the end of Christianity or religion? I wonder! I’m always slightly suspicious of polls, and the findings have a familiar ring to them. On thing though, this is a particularly European obsession, Christianity isn’t dead in the rest of the world as we can see.

However we cannot be complacent, that’s why we need people out there, in society, actively standing up for our faith in the risen Lord! Perhaps in one way we are the new religious lepers, marked out as odd, deficient, and sick by our society and media.

The words of Leviticus do resonate with where we find ourselves, but look at Mark’s Gospel;‘ If you wish ‘ says the leper to Jesus, ‘you can make me clean!’ The man is healed. Maybe the real model for us is always Jesus, present, with and in us. Pope Francis told the new Cardinals:‘The (person) of God is someone captivated by truth, one who encounters it fully in the word and flesh of Jesus Christ, the inexhaustible source of our joy”! May Christ keep that hope alive in ourselves!

The man of God is someone captivated by truth, one who encounters it fully in the word and flesh of Jesus Christ, the inexhaustible source of our joy," he said. "May the people of God always see in us a firm condemnation of injustice and joyful service to the truth."

 Fr Robin Gibbons is an Eastern Rite Chaplain for the Melkite Greek Catholics in Britain.