The End is Nigh?

When we read in the news about growing tensions around the world, natural disasters, the results of a highly divisive election, the suffering of people in Mosul and Aleppo, people drowning at sea and the rattling of sabres between countries we naturally become afraid. These events quite naturally can have a direct impact on our thinking and on how we act. We can start to overemphasise how our salvation depends more on ourselves than on the Kerygma of Jesus Christ. It is easy to become distracted about events beyond our control and beyond our reach. The one thing that we need to do is the work that God has entrusted us with and gifted us to do.

The call of the Gospel calls us not to be afraid. In fact, these words are often repeated when Jesus speaks to his disciples. When our lives are driven or controlled by fear we are either paralysed into inaction or reaction. Our lives are no longer our own. Our prayer can try to be manipulative of God. We seek what we want and proclaim what we want to hear rather than listen to God in the silence of our hearts. Our response should always be one which seeks to heal, reconcile and proclaim that the Kingdom of God is very near to us. It is how we live and breathe the Holy Spirit in a troubled world.