Given on 4 May 2026 for the Mass for Migrants at St Anthony of Padua, Forest Gate.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Our first reading today speaks of us of the beauty of all of creation and of the particular and very special place that humanity has in that creation. God is complete in Himself. He does not need to create – yet the act of creation is an expression of love. This is seen, more than anywhere else, in the creation of humanity in His own image and likeness. We hear the words: “And God saw everything that he had made and behold, it was very good.” So, as we look around the pews of this church, we see goodness – the goodness of creation and the dignity of humanity created in nothing less than God’s image and likeness.
Rejoicing in this wonderful gift of God’s life, we recognise that we are a people gathered from every nation across the face of the earth. Each of us might reflect on the journey of our lives. Some of these journeys have been very difficult indeed. A number in this church today may well have endured significant challenge and hardship along the way. Some of these difficulties have been lived privately, hidden even. For some, the journey has been more straightforward. Yet today we can rejoice in the faithful love of God our Father Who is always with us, no matter how difficult the journey may be.
The experience of life is something that we bring to the world in which we live. These experiences can help is in the service of our brothers and sisters and today’s Gospel teaches us something very important about our communities. Jesus was not welcomed in his own community. It was those from outside Nazareth who were open to His message. Those from other towns and villages had something to teach the people of Nazareth – openness to the newness of Jesus message.
So it is in our own society and today we rejoice in the freshness, the newness that all who travel to this country bring to us. At a time when tensions in so many of communities are more evident, I ask you to join with me to rejoice in the freshness, openness, newness and expression of faith that we celebrate today. Let us rejoice in the richness of experience, cultures and faith that we see present in our communities.
We celebrate today the universality of the Catholic Church that we see so evidently in our parish communities. This universality enables us to understand that welcome is natural to us. We see the dignity of every person, recognising in one another the beauty of God’s creation. This is a gift that we offer to our society and to our world, for it is the gift that models openness and welcome to a society, a world, that is in so many ways becoming less welcoming, less open.
Jesus first words after His resurrection were “Peace be with you.” The reminder of this gift were the first words of Pope Leo after his election as the successor of Peter. It is a message that he continues to proclaim to the world, with gentle yet clear insistence. Peace is something that is often fragile. This is the consequence of the denial of the dignity of the human person, for when we view our brothers and sisters as threats or as enemies, they become devalued in our eyes: less than human.
May we proclaim to the world around us the dignity of humanity created by God, out of love, in His own image and likeness. This is a vital aspect of our baptismal vocation and a necessary part of the mission to which the Lord has called us. This is a sure way to peace in our homes, our communities, our places of work, our schools, our wider society and, indeed, the whole world. It is nothing less than the proclamation of the Peace given us by the Risen Christ.
