Here is the beginning of St Paul’s Letter to Titus: ‘Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who never lies, promised ages ago and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by command of God our Saviour; To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour’.

St Paul took Titus to Crete, and Titus is said to have been its first Bishop. St Paul gives Titus the apostolic greeting ‘Grace and peace’. It has been said that it is only through grace that we find true peace, that ‘peace which the world cannot give’.

St Paul describes this peace elsewhere, in his Letter to the Philippians: ‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus’.

May we know this peace in our own hearts in our own time, and may God bless you this day.