Last Sunday’s Gospel challenged us to reflect on the relationship between love of God and love of neighbour in the context of our general obligations towards society. Today’s readings spell out to us both the importance and implications of love of neighbour. We must avoid every temptation to exploit another’s weakness – the immigrant, the widow, the orphan or those in debt. Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries transferred their wealth to the Crown and those he favoured but left the poor and vulnerable without the means of support both material and human they had found in religious communities. The immediate result was crowds of homeless vagabonds roaming the countryside. In the centuries since them society has tried various schemes to address this, parish relief, the workhouse, social benefits, but all have their shortcomings – not least the danger of losing sight of the individual. This is brought out powerfully in God’s words to Moses, “If ever you take your neighbour’s cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep?”