Download Bulletin 14th March 2021
Fr Hugh’s Homily for Fourth Sunday in Lent (Laetare Sunday)
In the days when you could nip down to London for a quick visit, I always tried to get to the British Museum. I would make one of my stops the Ancient Middle Eastern section. There you will find in a case of its own one of the seals that Cyrus sent out to all the parts of his Empire telling them that as a new king he was offering them an amount of autonomy. This is what the first reading ends with. This is small, about a foot and a bit across. Covered in the message in cuneiform (wedge style writing) and a bit cracked as well. Part of this new freedom for all the people was allowing one small people, pretty insignificant in the Empire’s make-up, to return to their homeland and rebuild their place of worship. And so the Israelites set off once more, back across the desert and via the usual trade routes to Jerusalem. For Cyrus this trek of a small people was probably not of any great account. But through the history of the Israelites/Jews in the most read book in the world, their scriptures, The Bible, Cyrus’ became famous throughout history……