Just as I was preparing to write this piece for the ‘Liturgy Project’ – way back in February – the midday radio news announced that the government in Jersey had passed the ‘Assisted Dying Bill’. Following royal assent, anyone in Jersey, who is given a prognosis of life for no more than six months may apply to have that life terminated, according to the media report.

This is, perhaps, not the place to comment on possible assisted dying legislation, neither in the United Kingdom nor in the Channel Islands. The teaching of the Catholic Church on the care of the dying is very clear. But the Jersey decision connects with my thoughts around this Sunday’s scripture.

Fundamental to our teaching is the Christian understanding that every human life is utterly sacred and is a precious gift from God, to be regarded with absolute respect. I wonder, as Jesus looked out on the crowds in today’s Gospel, could he have had in his mind every human being? Could those words which he uttered in John 6. 39 have been at the back of his mind: “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me”. Surely, every human being is a gift to Jesus from his Father and not to be lost?

The crowds, so often mentioned in Jesus’s sermon on the mount, stand for humanity. The twelve disciples, who became the twelve apostles, were sent to “proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven is close at hand” and later were commissioned to make disciples of all nations. (Matthew 28.19) With the apostles, in the form of the present college of bishops, who provide leadership and guidance for us the Lord’s disciples, we are called to be a “consecrated nation” (Exodus 19.6) or a “chosen race”, as the first preface for Ordinary time puts it. As we recognise the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in our own lives and story, our task is to feel the same compassion that Jesus did as he looked at the crowds. And that compassion is to be manifested in our willingness to continue Jesus’s work of reconciliation by proclaiming in word and action Jesus’s message of life to the full for all.

With Jesus we look out at humanity and see that we are all like sheep without a shepherd, harassed and dejected. Like sheep, human beings easily lose direction and wander into danger and destruction without realising it. With the Jersey decision to implement assisted dying we touch the issue at the heart of humanity’s present loss of direction. It is the growing tendency to see human beings as disposable and as commodities which can be discarded when they appear to be no longer useful, or perhaps, just different.

As the Lord’s disciples and as a Church we must do all we can to work against the culture of dehumanisation which is so prevalent. The evidence for that dehumanisation is everywhere, from Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan to human trafficking, assisted dying, abortion, the abuse of the vulnerable and the young, genocide and ethnic cleansing.

And the temptation is to be complicit with the policies or ideas of governments, organisations or media voices which, often unknowingly, have dehumanisation as their starting point or as an unspoken agenda. That is a temptation for us to avoid. Increasingly we must be counter cultural, always ‘reading the signs of the times’ and be clear in our defence of human dignity and the sacredness of every person.

Enough from me. A final word from Gaudium et Spes: “The modern world shows itself at one and the same time both powerful and weak, capable of the noblest deeds or the foulest. Before it lies the path to freedom or to slavery, to progress or decline, to brotherhood or hatred. Moreover, human beings are becoming aware that the forces they have unleashed are in their own hands, and that humanity must either control them or be enslaved by them”. (The Constitution of the Second Vatican Council on the Church in the Modern World number 9)

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The Communion Antiphon of the day has a ring of exuberant joy about it: There is one thing I ask of the Lord, only this do I seek; to live in the House of the Lord all the days of my life. (Ps.25(26):4)

For the Jewish Psalmist the House of the Lord was the temple in Jerusalem. This was the place where the Lord dwelt in the midst of his people Israel, the place where they could call upon his name and find help in time of need.

For the Christian who prays the psalm things are somewhat different. The Old Testament has been fulfilled by a New Covenant. The temple is now the Church of the Living God, and that temple we are.

To live our whole life in this temple is of paramount importance for the Christian. It is the one place we can be certain of finding God, of walking in the light of his face, of knowing the abundance of his mercy.

All the troubles in the world take their origin from the first trouble which was a falling away from life with God. All human wants began with the losing of him. If we do not draw near to God we will lack much else as well. With him we have the hope of gaining much besides. For he knows what we need before we ask him, and he longs to help us.

The Church is the beginning of the restoration of the world. The first fault-line is repaired in her communion. Outside of the life found in her, can we have any substantial hope? Within her we have cause for joy indeed!

Bidding Prayers

Let us pray for the unity of the Church, that the mercy of God may be clearly seen for the salvation of the world.

Let us pray for peace throughout the world, that all men and women may welcome the Good News of reconciliation with God in Christ Jesus.

Let us pray for all who sleep in Christ, that they may open their eyes to gaze upon the restoration of all things in God.

The following hymns have been chosen from the Laudate hymbook:

All people that on earth do dwell (466)

Church of God, elect and glorious (825)

We have a gospel to proclaim (852)

I will be with you (866)