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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

This Sunday’s Gospel, in which Jesus bequeaths His gift of peace, must surely prompt us to prayer for peace. The continuing conflicts in Gaza, the war in Ukraine and so many other places are before our eyes and in our minds daily as we continue to see, albeit at a distance, the impact on our brothers and sisters across the world.

We must pray for peace closer to home as well: in our homes, and in our own minds and hearts. With the many stresses to mental health, peace in mind and heart can be more difficult to find.

Into all these difficult circumstances comes the person of Jesus Himself. He shared in our sufferings and calls us to new life. This is a message each one of us needs to hear and it is a message we must proclaim and to which we must witness with our own lives.

The reading from the Book of the Apocalypse is the vision of the new Jerusalem – the vision of heaven, in which all is filled with the light and glory of God. It is this light – the light of the Risen Christ – that we must carry into our often-darkened world.

Let us accept the Peace of the Risen Christ, the Peace the world cannot give – the first of his post-resurrection gifts – for this is the peace that transforms our world and gives us a taste of nothing less than the Kingdom of Heaven.

With every blessing,

+ Richard

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