We have all borne a lot together this past week. The way our community has rallied together to support each other through our trials has been nothing short of incredible.
Let’s allow the Word of God to continue to be our strength on the road ahead.
The scripture reading below is from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians:
(1:3-7) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort…
(4:16-18) …so we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
I’d also like to share a brief reflection on how to make sense out of suffering, by Jeff Cavins. Click here to view the reflection on The Meaning of Suffering.
Christ be with you all,
Fr. John Mitchell