Thought for the Week byMgr Kieran Heskin

Sacred Heart Church, Ilkley

A FEW years ago one of our bishops was dying and when an old friend visited him he said: “Jack, the greatest thing we can do in life is to love and care for each other”. Jesus gave a very similar message to his friends at the Last Supper Table on the night before he died. He asked them to love one another deeply and sacrificially as he had loved them. In asking them to do this, he wanted their love to be the hallmark of the movement that he had initiated. Man-made products may be sold by advertising. The founder of Christianity wanted his brand of religion to be sold by the way it was lived.

The love of which Jesus spoke has always been extremely challenging and is no less challenging in the world of today. We live in a time and in a part of the world where there is a great deal of emphasis on self-centeredness; where we are encouraged to put ourselves at the centre of the world; where there is preoccupation with self, with my security, my money, my property, my health, my self-development and personal fulfilment. We all like to “do our own thing”, to do what makes us feel good, and to be able to say in the words of Frank Sinatra, “I did it my way”.

It is of course perfectly acceptable for us to be concerned about ourselves and our welfare: it is when this concern becomes obsessive and narcissistic, and when it largely devoid of consideration for others that it becomes contrary to what Jesus considered important.

I would much prefer that I was able to say at the end of my days not that I did my own thing or that “I did it my way” but that whenever I could I made the effort to help fellow pilgrims on the road of life. And who knows but that in the years ahead there will be some who will look back at bleak days and remember that I came to their support? They probably won’t remember what I said but they may remember that I was there, that I was kind and that they experienced some love and support from me. And even if they don’t remember, I’d be very surprised if God didn’t remember!