麻豆约拍

Good morning. Recently, I visited Fr Thomas, a priest of the Diocese of Leeds, now working in his native Tamil Nadu, in India. He invited me to bless a new 500 bed hospice he had built for the destitute dying; the third one he had established.

Many of those who are poor, physically disabled or suffering from mental illness are left to die on the roadsides. To most of us it seems unimaginable, but it鈥檚 a daily reality to be found in many cities of the world. With great love and care, Fr Thomas arranges for these men and women to be rescued from the streets and taken to one of these hospices. Many are found in an appalling physical condition. But in the hospice they find love and dignity in their last days and hours of life.

On this Good Friday, we recall the suffering and death of Jesus. His condemnation and flogging, the public humiliation of carrying the cross through the streets, and the crucifixion which followed, were all designed to strip Jesus of his dignity and humanity.
We recoil at this thought of such human cruelty.聽 Yet even today, in many places around the world, the dignity of men, women and children is being crucified on the cross of another's lack of compassion: in areas of conflict and war, in the treatment of refugees, in human trafficking or in the neglect of the poor and dying. Yet hope still shines in this darkness. Love is still finding a way to open tombs and raise people up. Good Friday is not the end.

Heavenly Father, may your grace give us the strength to do all that we can to bring hope and dignity to those who are suffering. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen