Someone's mother

  I will gather others to them besides those already gathered. (Isaiah 56:8)

 

Pic: Bazzi Rahib, Ilyas Basim Khuri. The Canaanite Woman asks for healing for her daughter, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55922 [retrieved 19 August, 2023]

 (Year A: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 20thAugust, 2023)

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READINGS 

Isaiah 56:1-8

Psalm 66

Romans 11:1-32

Matthew 15:10-28

 

The second part of this Sunday’s Gospel story presents a challenge. We find ourselves with Jesus in what would have been considered as a foreign place among foreign people. Remember that in the running order of Matthew’s 15^th chapter we have just read about an argument between Jesus and some Pharisees and Scribes who were taking issue about the Law including ritual cleansing practices.

Now, in the district of tyre and Sidon a Canaanite, a foreigner, came forward and ‘started shouting’ at Jesus, a Jew, in search of help. Why would a devout Jew respond to a foreigner for help?  Was Jesus trying out the patience and trust of others around him by deliberately not answering this Canaanite (in other words ignoring her)? Even then, he provided, according to Matthew, what might be considered an abrupt and rude response by declaring ‘it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs’.  If ever Jesus might be accused of political incorrectness and ethno-religious discrimination here was a prime example! (Canaanites would have been regarded, generally, in Jewish society as a sinful and godless race to be shunned if not exterminated).

But, the Canaanite persisted and, this time, on her knees. She had a daughter who was seriously ill. And mothers, as we all know, will go to any length when it comes to their children – child or adult.  We may note that the woman persisted without being presumptuous. She did not presume that Jesus would perform a miracle. And, she did not argue with his blunt parable about giving food to the ‘dogs’. She used the parable to continue pleading by suggesting that even the dogs can eat the crumbs that fall from the masters’ table.  How often do we see an honesty and realism in those outside our comfort circles including those who are cut off from our fellowship or networks.

To be cut off is to be alienated from someone or something. It may also involve a cutting off from oneself – one’s own inner being, needs and concerns. Ultimately, a state of being cut off may involve a cutting off from awareness of a loving God who watches over us every moment of our lives.

Writing to the Christians at Rome, Paul, the Apostle to the gentiles, looks with great compassion and also great hope for his own people – the Jewish people, the chosen people destined to be the first to be saved except that many of them missed the opportunity.  However, ‘the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable’ (Romans 11:29).  There is always a firm hope that even when we are cut off and alienated for whatever reasons God is waiting, calling, inviting and active in our lives.  In a well known passage from the prophecy of Isaiah we are reminded that ‘my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.’ (Isaiah 56:7).  In other words, God’s house is for everyone and not just the chosen, or the exclusively invited. 

The Canaanite mother displays three qualities: lots of faith, lots of humility laced with a sense of humour and lots of persistence. Faith and humility are the winning formula time and time again in the gospel not least when they are displayed directly by foreigners or outcasts such as the thief on the cross or the Roman centurion who pleaded for his servant.

Another assertive woman has been the mother of Jesus – the first disciple of the Lord. She declared the greatness of God her saviour in the Magnificat.  She continues to plead for the disciples with motherly care.  If faith coupled with humility can move mountains then we are witnesses to the power of God at work in intercessory prayer.

We can thank the persistence of mothers for a lot of things in our lives. The story of the foreign woman who persisted out of love for her sick daughter is a reminder that we, too, are both the object of the faith-full persistence of others as well as the subjects of faith who never give up on the mercy of God.

Do not be afraid

  But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’ (Matt 14:27)

 

 (Year A: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 13^th August, 2023)

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READINGS 

I Kings 19:9-18

Psalm 85:8-13

Romans 10:5-15

Matthew 14:22-33

(See, also, Mark 6:45-52 and John 6:16-21)

What am I afraid of? What are you afraid of?  Good questions because the answer takes a bit of thinking.  Again and again, across the scriptures, we are admonished and advised to not be afraid.  We should take the time and trouble to sit still in the presence of God at home or in a quiet church or in quiet park or garden. There, in the silence we might sense or hear so to speak a whisper - 'It is I'.

In today’s first reading we hear of Elijah meeting God on mount Horeb – not in scenes of thunder, noise and commotion but in the ‘sound of sheer silence’ (1 Kings 19:12) according to one English language translation (NRSVA). Other versions have ‘a still small voice’ (RSV) or ‘a gentle breeze’ (CEV) 

The message that emerges is that God speaks gently and almost silently.  We can hear if we are still and at rest. The idea of a whisper or a gentle breeze evokes memories of a time when the Holy Spirit spoke to us in a delightful way.

However, hearing the Lord ‘speak’ to us is more than just fanciful imagination while we still the body and the mind. The writer of this Sunday’s selection from Psalm 84 declares:

Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts. (v.12).

To hear what God has to say to us we must be ready to ‘turn to him’ in our hearts. In other words, we must be ready to do his will. Such a disposition is not easy because we prefer to hear what we want to hear from sources that suit our agenda and hang-ups. Listening with a ready ear and an open heart and with a will ready to submit is what matters. Otherwise, we risk twisting scripture (and tradition which birthed scripture) to our own liking and tastes. It may seem impossible to approach the Word of God in such a manner of complete abandonment but we are encouraged by what St Paul writes in today’s selection from the Letter to the Romans:

‘The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart’ (10:8)

And what does this Word that is so near to us on our lips and in our hearts say this Sunday 13th August? It says:

‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’ (Matthew 14:27)

Staying focussed on Jesus

‘… they saw no one except Jesus himself alone …..’ (Matt 17:8)

Matthew 17:1-9 (Year A: The Transfiguration of the Lord 6 August 2023)

The drama on the mountain recounted by Matthew involves heavenly visions, voices, visitations, excitement, joy, fear, awe, reassurance and prophecy.  

The story of the Transfiguration is saturated with Old Testament talk and image. Matthew and the community he came from and wrote for were steeped in this world. The reckless and brash Peter is very much of this world outlook. His immediate and impulsive reaction is to offer to make three ‘tents’ or dwellings – one for Moses (communicator of the Law), one for the prophet Elijah (a great Prophet) and one for the new Moses, Law-giver and Prophet of Prophets, Jesus the Christ, who will teach and lead his people to the Promised Land.  In his simplicity and naivete he wanted to capture the moment and perpetuate the experience by confining the divine to one place and moment in time. He had some hard lessons to learn yet.

Instead of a slavish adherence to the Law and the Prophets Jesus has opened up a new way that fulfils the Law and the Prophets. Instead of Mount Sinai we are on another mountain to the North. Instead of the Cloud of God’s presence we are with Jesus in the Cloud of human unknowing. Instead of light shining from Moses (Exodus 4:29), the everlasting light shines on us through Jesus who was transfigured before his disciples.

God knows we need relief at times on life’s journey not least when we know major challenges lie ahead – be it pending surgery and other matters or just the business of growing old year by year and drawing closer to advanced ageing, sickness and death – three things we can be certain about in life.

But if we are certain about these three things we can be encouraged and empowered by three other things: trust, hope and love. These make all the difference to us as disciples on the mountain with others, in a cloud, anxious at times but surprised by joy in the presence of someone greater than our worries, uncertainties and horizons.  The disciples may not have seen too far that day with the cloud on the mountain. It might have been like climbing Croagh Patrick to find mist and rain at the top and not a sight of Clew Bay.  

On life’s journey we need points of rest. Deep rest. There, we sense a peace and blessing that is healing. I hesitate to say that we sense a presence because for much of the time our senses indicate absence more than presence. But, in absence we cling in trust to the idea of presence. That’s faith.

Knowing your spirits

 

Sunday5th June 2022

Pentecost Sunday

Open our ears, O Lord to hear your word and know your voice. Speak to our hearts and strengthen our wills that we may serve you today, now and always. Amen.

We need to get to know the spirits in our lives.

Might we hear inside our heads:
‘I am no good’, ‘I am a bad parent’, ‘I am not worthy’, ‘I could never do that’, ‘people don’t like me’,….?

These are typical of bad spirits!

God does not accuse.  Only the evil one accuses.  Rather, God convicts our hearts through love. The best way to explain this is to hear what Jesus says to us in John 12:47-48:

I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge 

There are times when we know in our hearts:

‘Yes, I should not have said/done that’

‘Yeah, I did not do it when I should have…’

We need space and time to be silent and to let the Holy Spirit whisper to us

Perhaps we could devote a few minutes at the end of each day reflecting, journaling and praying on these lines:

• Come Holy Spirit and help me to recall those moments today when I was aware of your love and to savour again what you meant to me.

• Help me to recognise those inspirations and promptings you gave me and to know whether I responded or not.

• Help me to recognise those times when I saddened you by what I said or did or by what I failed to do.

Feelings are important but they are not the only thing.  We can know god’s will by careful discernment with the help of age-old means of:

• Prayer

• Reading of scripture

• Reflection on our moods, emotions and life events.

When we experience lasting peace and freedom - even joy - this might very well be a sign of God's presence and beckoning. But let’s be careful. Sharing with a trusted and competent person could help to check our self-will and purely private interpretations.

The culmination of Jesus’s teachings as reported in the Gospel of John is conveyed to us in five key pledges that we can trust and hang on to in our minds and hearts at the start of every day:

1    We are not alone (the Holy Spirit has been sent and continues to breathe on us) – John 14:18 

‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.’

2    We called to live in a new commandment of mutual love (that the world may see and believe) – John 13:34

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

3    The continuing help and presence of the Holy Spirit is guaranteed – John 16:13

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

4    Joy and peace and with that freedom are the fruit of that Holy Spirit (marking such gifts out from all else) – John 15:11

I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

5    We will know the truth and the truth will set us free – John 8:32

and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’

To sum up:

1. We are not alone

2. Love one another

3. The Holy Spirit will guide us

4. How do we know? – Joy and Peace!

5. And that joy will set us free

Really, we could not ask for more!

Father in the name of Jesus open our hearts, today, to your Holy Spirit.

• Set us on fire
• Send us out to witness to your great love
• Thank you

A quiet place

 Sunday 22 May 2022

(6th Sunday of Easter)

Over the last two years I have had some time and space to myself due to circumstances outside my control.  To varying degrees and at different stages, we were all subject to advice or restrictions regarding travel, social interaction and distancing as well.  In many ways I can sum up my personal experience during this testing time as an echo of the verse in the Book of Hosea:

Therefore, I will now persuade her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. (Hosea 2:14)

I had the fortunate to be able to stay in a 'wilderness' of sorts in this beautiful coastal area of North County Dublin. I have also been fortunate in being able to evidently avoid covid during these last two years.

What did I learn once again?  .... that I was not alone but accompanied all the way by God's Holy Spirit even if I sometimes fail to live up to the demands of the Gospel in my living. Second, I learned once again about listening.  When upset, not sure, annoyed or simply frightened it is always and everywhere possible and necessary to cast our burdens on the Lord 

'Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you' (1 Peter 5:7)

I could make the prayer of David my own:

I will listen to what the Lord God will say, for he shall speak peace to his people and to the faithful, that they turn not again to folly. (Psalm 85:8)

 Although I do not always manage to do it I strive to:

• find a time and a place to 'listen' to God in my heart.
• listen to another.
• listen to myself.

One ought not be afraid to go that special place and time, no matter how limited or constrained, to find a listening space.  

A wise person advised me to say often the following invocation:

Lord Jesus Christ, fill me with your Holy Spirit.

It is party time

“…And they began to celebrate.” (Luke 15:24)

Luke 15:11-32 (Year C: The Fourth Sunday in Lent 27th  March, 2022)

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A NOTE ABOUT TODAY’S READINGS

Old Testament: Joshua 5:9-12, Psalm 32,

New Testament epistle: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21.

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SERMON NOTES (2,186 words)

So much has entered into the English language and other languages via the Bible and its many images, stories and turns of phrase.  The story of the prodigal son is just one example.  We are familiar with the image of the wayward son who acts irresponsibly and goes off to sow his wild oats only to return later in penury and misery and to be met by a loving and compassionate father.  The jealousy of a brother and the reaction of their father adds spice to the story.  The parables of mercy found in the fifteenth chapter of Luke is preceded by the discourse on the demands of total discipleship in Luke 14 and is followed by some very challenging parables about riches in Luke 16. We should be aware that a parable of mercy is not a soft or easy option sandwiched in between hard discipleship and renunciation of attachment to material wealth. Rather, mercy explains everything we need to know about our God and it explains everything we need to know about how to live out our discipleship in this world as we know it. The fruits of this is joy and joy without shame.

The scene for this parable is set by the opening verses of Luke 15:1-2

Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’

How ironic that Luke should have chosen this opening challenge as the context, first, for the parable of the lost coin (Luke 15:3-7), then the lost sheep (Luke 15:8-10) and finally the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) when many of the followers of Jesus over the coming centuries would spend much time leaving lost coins lost, not bothering with the one lost sheep and setting barriers and exclusion orders for those who seek a return to fellowship at the Lord’s table. Of course, it may be pointed out that various anathemas and exclusion orders are present elsewhere in the New Testament including some references in the gospels. However, the overwhelming thrust of what Jesus said and did and what we know about sayings and actions attributed to Jesus is that he didn’t play it all by the Rules of religion or custom. Rather, he exposed the shallowness, selectivity and duplicity of those managing these Rules when the overriding Rule of Life was and is chesed – a loving kindness that is faithful and moved and moveable.  We are not dealing, here, with some micro-manager God who is eagerly waiting to punish and control us. Neither are we dealing here with some ‘God of the ancient Greek Philosophers, that God who had no truck with the world, its people or its existence’, but remained ‘the unmoved mover of all things’ as Irish poet John Deane put it in his autobiography (Give Dust a Tongue: A faith and poetry memoir).

On the contrary, we are dealing with a living God who is all powerfully vulnerable to human suffering and delights in what has been created by love, in love, for love. The common thread running through each of the three parables in Luke 15 is that joy is the fruit of repentance and being found again. However, there is, potentially at least, a snag with the Prodigal son story.   A plausible reaction on the part of those listening to the story of the Prodigal Son for the first time might raise the following three questions:

1.    Wasn’t the father being unfair to the well-behaved and consistently loyal son?

2. Didn’t the father have a responsibility to reprimand the wayward son because bad behaviour should not be rewarded and a lesson needed to be taught even if he forgave all and the wayward son repented of all? What sort of message was the father sending out to other sons and fathers in the locality?

3. Did the prodigal son remain virtuous or fall by the wayside again? It is known to have happened that persons fall more than once in the course of a lifetime. The parable stops at this point.

Good questions to which answers are not readily available!  Let’s listen carefully, again, to this all too familiar and all too human story. The story begins like this:

‘There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.” So he divided his property between them.  A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living.’ (v. 11-13)

How would any parent feel about a child doing a ‘runner’ with their precious savings?  We can assume that the Father was at least surprised, annoyed, resentful when this happened. But he ought to have known beforehand given his youngest son’s character. While you can’t predict someone’s actual behaviour in advance you can guess a range of possible scenarios.  We are talking here of an ordinary human being in a story about human beings which sets the scene for a story about a heavenly father.  Note the absence of women in this story from start to finish (except by reference to women of ill-repute when the prodigal son was abroad). This is a classical scene from a patriarchal society where women do not feature when it comes to money, power and division of assets. 

When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. (v. 14-16)

The younger son fell on hard times. It happens. We all make mistakes. If we have not made mistakes when we were younger how would we learn? But, hold on wait for what is coming next….

But when he came to himself he said, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger!  I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;  I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’”  So he set off and went to his father. (v.17-20a)

The traditional reading of the Prodigal Son is based on the idea that the prodigal son realised his mistakes, repented and returned to the Father.  But, there is another way of reading this story even if it is much less the assumed one – the son was cunning and clever enough to realise that when the money runs out the money runs out and the options are dire.  This son knew that his father was a bit of a push-over?  Did he gamble on pulling a fast one and putting on a repentance and self-humiliation scene? What was there to lose by giving it a try?  There are enough hints in the story to not exclude this possibility.  But, either way, the son returned and he was met by a compassionate father who took the initiative to meet him more than half ways. Read on…

But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.  Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate. (v.20b-24)

Well that was some scene in front of everyone!.  Just imagine this disgraceful and disgraced son who turns up out of the blue and publicly abases himself in remorse.  The neighbours, cousins, friends and local persons of note must have been dumbfounded. ‘Well, who would have thought?’. Perhaps we could imagine some wondering if this was just a show (it is a parable after all). The father is, indeed, a soft-hearted old man. He saw his son far off and ‘was filled with compassion’.  He must have been thinking of him night and day and wondering was his son alive, well and in one piece. A first century parable didn’t allow for WhatsApp, email, mobile phones and facebook messenger. But, here in this moment of strong emotion and bonding the father immediately accepts his son without question, without interrogation, without conditions, without reserve and without hesitation. This was man-to-man stuff and Father-to-son work. The father ‘put his arms around him and kissed him’ not afraid to show his emotions. To Northern Europeans this seems sloppily southern European or eastern European!  Except on the sports field, showing emotions like that especially among men and among male family members is difficult for some of us in colder climates! But, back to the story…

‘Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.  He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on.  He replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.”  Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him.  But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” (v.25-30)

Oh Oh. Enter the other son.  Many a family feud has started over questions of honour, pride, inheritance and favours. The eldest son was furious: why should he who had been the loyal, respectable and obedient son be treated the same as or even not as well as the younger irresponsible brother? It was a fair question but one that missed the point of the story – the one who was lost and found deserves a double celebration. This can be a hard one to swallow especially if there is a hint of manipulation on the part of the prodigal son who weighed up his options and decided that offering himself as a hired servant was a least worst option.  We may note that the elder son refers to his younger brother not as a brother but ‘this son of yours’ (v.30).  How often do we use language to put a distance between ourselves and particular others especially when relationships are frayed or sundered?

But, in responding to the very understandable anger and astonishment of the older son we are confronted with a very different and disruptive logic. The logic and metrics of God-love are very different to ours. Notions of merit, proportional reward and punishment for past wrong doing (even when someone has repented) are very different in the kingdom of God. This is why the kingdom of God is an alien and distant place for many in society and even, sometimes, in our very own churches.

Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”’ (v.31-32)

The Father’s response is firm but gentle and affirming to the second son. There is a place for everyone at God’s table including those who believe themselves to have been faithful all their lives. But, there is a special place for those who feel awkward, excluded, judged and unsure. This is not about ‘opening the floodgate’ to everyone and anything. It is about the practice of a compassionate reaching out to those who come to us in search of meaning, understanding, acceptance, inclusion and encouragement in their journey. Are we up to this challenge? If we are honest with ourselves we will admit that we are the prodigal daughters and sons who need acceptance, understanding and encouragement. We receive these gifts when we are ready to give them to other prodigals. There is no shame in forgiving or in being forgiven. Rather, shame is a sign of hurt that is not healed.  We need to practice mercy as much as receive it. Indeed, it is party time.  Laetare - traditionally rejoicing Sunday on the fourth Sunday of Lent - can be every Sunday – a time of mercy, visitation, renewal.

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SOME IDEAS FOR INTERCESSIONS

Father of mercies, in Jesus you embrace us in our weakness and in our waywardness. We place our trust in your infinite mercy as we own up to our sins as individuals and as church. We pray for:

• Healing and reconciliation in the churches and in our church community…..
• Those seeking healing in the places we work and pray and gather…
• All the nations of Europe at this time of uncertainty and strain….
• For mothers on this 'Mothering Sunday'...
• One another….
• Other named persons ….
• Remembering with thanks those who have gone before us….
• … praying in silence….

Loving God take to yourself our pain, our grief and our wounds. Transform us in Christ to become what you have meant us to be. And we make this prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Feel the fear and do it anyway

 “…Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way” (Luke 13:33)

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Psalm 27

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Luke 13:31-35

 New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Year C: Second Sunday in Lent, 13 March 2022

It has been claimed that the instruction, ‘do not be afraid’, arises 365 times in the bible. That seems like good advice until we are presented with a situation that is truly scary!

In recent times I have been listening to and watching in complete amazement and astonishment 18 year old Ukrainian volunteers – boys really – addressing journalists and saying that they are bit scared but at the same time but that they must do what they have to do.

Is it realistic to advise someone not to be afraid even if we know and trust that God is with us through it all? I suggest a nuanced reply.  It is entirely natural and rational and unavoidable that we would experience fear throughout our lives. It is the way of survival and growth to learn about facing and living with danger.

This leads us to ponder the meaning of trust in the midst of daily life especially at times of great uncertainty and not a little anxiety as we hopefully emerge from a pandemic and embrace the shock of a new and somewhat terrifying world ushered in during the early hours of Thursday the 24^th February 2022. Our world will never be the same again.  And for those fleeing or staying to defend across the land of the Ukraine millions are faced with stark and dreadful choices. We cannot even begin to imagine what it is like.

Jesus faced fear and extreme hostility as we learn in today’s Gospel reading.  He declared: ‘Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way’.  Jesus was no less human than we are. He felt hunger, pain, fear and desolation as well as times of great joy.  He did not flinch from his mission.  Neither did he succumb to fear.

Abram, our Father in faith, was faced with a similar challenge when God asked him to leave his home country and travel to an unknown place. Abraham or Father of the nations, as he was to be called, trusted in God and allowed God to lead him.  A covenant was made by God to protect and reward Abraham with many heirs.  We are the children of Abraham along with many outside the household of Christian faith.

We may note that Abram’s act of faith – abandonment to the will of God – did not mean that he would not face fear.  In Genesis 15:12, after Abram put his trust in the Lord, we read the following:

“As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him”.

In other words, the act of faith – abandoning our will to the will of God – does not abolish fear. Rather, we continue to experience fear but now we travel with God through the fear because, as the psalmist sings, ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear?’ and again, ‘The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?’

God is indeed in the hellish places of our present world.  And God cares infinitely for each creature even those inflicting great suffering on others.

May each of us face and acknowledge fear but do what we have to do in the name of Christ who leads us forward.