A message from Fr John

Dear Friends

Good morning

I was thinking …. We can sometimes allow ourselves to be pulled down by so many different things, especially these days. The weather, the gloomy days, the pandemic, our deep concern for the struggles that so many are going through, can all conspire to draw us away from the beautiful side of our lives, that part of ourselves where we can believe the best of ourselves and the best of others.

St Paul had ‘been through the mill’ in so many different ways - flogging and shipwreck among them - but at the heart of everything was an unshakeable faith and the following passage sums it up for him, his readers and us. And so ….
From the Letter of St Paul to the Romans 8: 31 – 35, 37 – 39

'With God on our side who can be against us? Since God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up to benefit us all, we may be certain, after such a gift, that he will not refuse anything he can give. Could anyone accuse those that God has chosen? When God acquits, could anyone condemn? Could Christ Jesus? No! He not only died for us – he rose from the dead, and there at God's right hand he stands and pleads for us.

Nothing therefore can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked. These are the trials through which we triumph, by the power of him who loved us.

For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.'

Let’s try to stay full of hope for ourselves, for each other and for all those who might be tempted to ‘let go’.
St Joseph, model of courage, pray for us

Every blessing

Fr John