standup.comboniyouth.org.uk

"When there came a traveller to stay,
the rich man refused to take 
one of his own flock or herd...
Instead he took the poor man's lamb 
and prepared it for his guest"
(2 Samuel 12,4)

The word "courage" is made up of two latin words "cor" meaning heart and "agire" to act. To show courage is to act according to the promptings of the heart. The prophet Nathan needed courage when he was sent to confront the palace. He used the well-known parable of the poor man's ewe lamb. King David was angry at Nathan's story. The prophet was quick to reply "You are the man! You killed Uriah with the sword of Amon... You have despised the Lord's word". The sin is one of contempt. Cruelty was the targetting of the children in the school at Beslan in Russia, innocent lambs of today's heart-breaking chronicles.

Here in Scotland, a memorial mass was held for a De la Salle Brother, Gregory Gallimore who was part of the Scottish Catholic National Commission of J&P. He was instrumental in the launching of a J&P commission in the Diocese of Motherwell. He was praised as a quite man but of strong convictions. When Gregory was still young his father, a coalminer, died in an accident at work. The family was never compensated for the loss. The mother had to raise the children in total poverty. This affected the sensitivity of Gregory, who from then was always on the side of the poor and the underdog. He continued this as a religious brother spending all his life in teaching poor and disadvantaged children. Then when he retired he discovered the treasure hidden in the field of Justice and Peace. He would lead a prayer meeting for peace activists every week in his religious house. This was the homily given by Bishop John Mone of Paisley, head of the bishops' J&P commission. It seems that the bishop followed the advice given by brother Gregory. His well quoted saying was "we shall speak with our hands before our lips", another way of saying that 'action speak louder then words'. One of his legacies is the fact that now we J&P Link persons for religious in Scotland have been recognised by the J&P national commission and our two representatives take part ordinarely in it. Soon on 30th October we will have the Scottish Annual Conference for J.&P. in Edinburgh.