Parishioner Pat McKeough was the commentator at Mass recently. He duly welcomed everyone to the "Sacrifice of the Mass". I realised I’d not heard or used the expression for some time, and began some pondering. We now use expressions like "Eucharist", "Eucharistic Assembly", "Gathering"… Sacrifice: it brought me back several steps.

It made me wonder again about the love of Jesus, of his self-giving, of his life spent in being friend to the poor, upholding the dignity of women, of going out of his way to meet and touch outcasts, lepers, tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners of all classes.

It made me remember leaving a comfortable home in Neutral Bay, with a daily view of the Harbour and its life and shipping, and going to Africa, to Adjumani which was considered the end of the world. The end of the road was a place called Gulu. Adjumani was a rough 3-4 hours drive from there – when you could get through because of rain or rebels.

Adjumani became our home: no water, electricity, showers, toilets, music. The comforts of home were far behind. No harbour, but the Nile flowed nearby, filled with Bilharzia and other worms that could get inside your skin and be fatal, and malaria and sleeping sickness…

And the people of Neutral Bay thought I was mad, and the people of Adjumani thought we were all mad, and the refugees from the Sudan seemed glad.

And I thought of the reason for our going there: A small effort to help the people establish some kind of education for their children, that their experience of exile should not handicap them even more.

And I hear the voice of a mother reflecting on the wonder of her child: that this new creature is entrusted to her, becomes so demanding, interrupts her routine, her outings, she gives up an independent life-style, and has something now she would kill for, and wonders about it all.

So, Pat says welcome to the "Sacrifice of the Mass". It really makes sense. It’s the sacred gathering to celebrate all that is sacred in our lives, to "make sacred" the elements of our world, to join with others and together recall that Jesus does love us more than life, that we in turn, whether in Africa or Adelaide, find ways of loving more than life, and celebrating the truly sacred.