St. James' Church Bushypark Galway

A prophet once said that true religion means to act justly, love tenderly, to walk humbly with your God. Religion can be a means of praising God, or serving self, of service to others, or caring for self.

It can diminish people, make them guilty always in the sight of God, and then it misses the first grace of any faith: that God loves each of us, a love that dwells within us as real as the blood in our veins and muscles in our limbs, the hair on our head.

Religion can keep the poor more needy, encouraging an unthinkable acceptance of the inequality among people. And it misses then another grace, that we are brothers and sisters, and all we are given is for the service of others.

Jesus was angry in the Temple, because of the greed of the sellers, who were exploiting the poor in the name of religion, and mocking the house of God.

And God is angry when people are exploited, used, abused, in any way – physically, emotionally,
spiritually.

God asks us in Jesus to share his anger when people’s dignity is diminished, or love is abused, or the poor are exploited or when he himself is neglected. This is true religion: to act justly, love tenderly and to walk humbly with our God.