Monday 7 June 2021

Today is Monday the 7 June in the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time.

The St Thomas Music Group sing the Prayer of St Teresa by Margaret Rizza. ‘Let nothing disturb you, nothing distress you. While all things fade away, God is unchanging.  Be patient, for with God in your heart, nothing is lacking.  God is enough.’

Today’s reading is from the Second Letter to the Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ. If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering. Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation.

Paul speaks as someone who has known a lot of affliction. The pages of the New Testament are filled with the stories of his sufferings.  But they are also full of the stories of his consolation.  What does affliction mean for you?

What’s it like when a friend consoles you?

Listen again now to this rather complicated passage. St Paul is introducing himself to his audience. He is suggesting that, in some strange way, God uses difficult experiences to help us grow and to draw us closer to each other.

‘Sharing sufferings, and sharing consolation’—does it make sense for you to think about your relationship with God in that way?

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.