In his reflection during mass at the start of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) Ad Limina visit, the Second Vice President of the SACBC focused on “the Sermon on the Mount” from the day’s Gospel reading Matthew 5:1-12.
“Today we read about the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel. I believe it is a good way to start our ad limina visit,” said Bishop Thomas Graham Rose of Dundee Diocese during the Monday, June 12 mass celebrated at the Santa Marta Chapel.
He continued, “I say this because this week we will come face to face with the organization of the Church…we will encounter the vast expanse of the Vatican; we will visit the different Dicasteries from where the awesome machinery of the Catholic Church is governed. This is where the power of the organization and all its administration lies.”
In his reflection at the start of the June 12-17 Ad Limina visit of the Catholic Bishops from Botswana, Eswatini, and South Africa which saw the participation of the Cardinal, 30 Prelates, two Priests, and a Nun, Bishop Rose said, “And surely it is here that we have to be reminded, recalled, we could say to the Sermon on the Mount. The teaching of Jesus as captured so beautifully in this great sermon of his, has sometimes been described as the constitution of the Church.”
He added, “At the Solemnity of All Saints, we read our Lord’s sermon in the Gospel of the day. I have heard that in the beatitudes we find a description of the Saints – they are the ‘poor in spirit’ the ‘gentle of heart’, they are those ‘who hunger and thirst for justice’, and so on.”
Turning his attention to the younger Bishops, the 71-year-old Prelate said, “Here in the Jesus teaching we surely find the core of the Gospel. A good place to start and may I suggest a good way to end. Perhaps younger Bishops, young enough to be ambitious, will be taken up by the power of the administration – what role might they play here in Rome?”
“But indeed, we all have to return to the Sermon on the Mount. It is a timeous grace to have read this Gospel today. For that we give thanks for the Word of God,” he concluded.
