From The Bishop

It is very easy to become discouraged, especially when we are faced with many challenges and disappointments. This can even begin to affect our faith. There is no question that as the world becomes more secular and the Church seems less holy, people of faith can begin to lose heart. The Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time provide a remedy to this because they focus on God’s love. This gives us great hope especially when we feel besieged. We read in the First Reading from the Prophet Jeremiah, “They will fight against you but they shall not prevail against you for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.” The Lord is always with us because He loves us. In the Second Reading St. Paul tells us that (love), “It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” It is God’s love for us and our love for God that sustains us and gives us the strength to endure and have hope. The Gospel of St. Luke reminds us that Jesus was rejected and treated poorly. If we are followers of Christ then we should expect nothing better. We do not give up. We continue to believe, hope and endure because God’s love is with us as we follow the example of the Master.