Message on Jesus’ Love – Sunday, June 30, 2024

Brothers and Sisters,

Yesterday at the Cathedral in Spanish Town ten persons were ordained, two as priests and eight as deacons.  I ask your prayers for all of them and so I will give you their names.  Kerry Parchment Carr, Carol Vaughn will be ordained to the priesthood, and Anna-Lise Wisdom, Andria Bell, Claudine Lindsay Nembhard, Desreen Thomas, Rudolph Forsythe, Patrick Coulthrist, Mario Samms and Andre Waugh will be made deacons. All are invited to the service, but more especially all are to pray that God will grant to all of them the grace to fulfill their ministry.

Let me share with you briefly some essentials of ministry, which apply not only to the ordained but to everyone of us who participate in the “Total Ministry” of the Church.  These are drawn from the encounter of Jesus with Peter by the Sea of Galilee after the resurrection. 

Love for Jesus is the starting point.  The ministry of Christ which we share demands that we must love Him, and so Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love Me?”    It was a challenging question for Peter as it is for all of us, for we have to admit the weakness of our love for Him, particularly when we compare it to the wonders of His love for us.  Answering this question honestly will always keep us humble.

Feeding Christ sheep is the next requirement.  Those in ministry must never forget their responsibility to care for and to nourish those who belong to Christ.  It is a solemn obligation for they do not belong to us, and our love and care for them must be in the same measure as our love for Christ Himself.

The final word Jesus said in that encounter with Peter was “Follow Me.”  Here we are left in no doubt that to do ministry we must follow Jesus in the way of the cross.  As Jesus willingly laid down His life for others, so must we be prepared to sacrifice all we have and all we are, even life itself, for Him and for the people He has committed to our care.

Contributed