Here is today’s Gospel, from St John: ‘Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me”’.

These are some of the best loved words of the whole of the New Testament, and they are often chosen for reading at funerals and Requiem Masses. St Teresa’s words are also apposite here: ‘Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you, all things are passing away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices’.

In the midst of the challenges of our daily lives, let us, by the help of God, maintain our inward peace, trusting in God alone and serving Our Lord in quietness of heart. May you be blessed in so doing, and may God be very close to you this day.