War,
what is it good for?
War is just about the worst thing that we humans practice on each other. The moment we declare war on each other the rules of decent human love go out the window.
We dress this up by saying there are rules of war, that you can do this – but you can’t do that. You can arrest a soldier but you mustn’t mistreat him.
It’s of little comfort when the aim appears to be to kill as many men, women and children as you can of the ‘enemy’.
The reality is of course that we have only one enemy in this life and he lives somewhere rather warmer than earth.
It is that fallen creature that drives us towards hatred and the normalising of killing each other, of aiming missiles and guns at each other.
There is only one enemy that helps us somehow make war okay – because we have ‘rules’.
War is never okay. It is never okay because it requires us to cease to love our neighbour as ourselves – as Jesus loved us and as He continues to love us.
War starts in the small acts of aggressions we show each other every day. War starts in the nastiness of our own hearts when they are not full of the love that Jesus gives us.
Pray that your own heart is shed of any hatred and aggression, that it is instead filled with Jesus’ Love. Pray that the hearts of others are filled with that love. Pray that one day we will be able to say that War is a thing of the past.
Fr. Matthew
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Choir rehearsal after mass today (Sunday 14th)!
If you could stay after mass on the 14th November and help clean I’d really appreciate it, we want the church looking wonderful for the Christmas Lights turn on.
17th November is the Hayes Christmas Lights turn on – hosted here at St. Anselm! The schools choir will sing for us at 4pm and the mayor will turn on the town lights at 4:30pm
I’d really appreciate any volunteers for the 17th to help serve mince pies, tea & coffee and mulled wine. Please let Fr. Matthew know if you can help.