From St Paul to the Colossians, set for today: ‘Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the divine office which was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints’.

How could anything be lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His Body? We are His Body, and so as we pray the Psalms, where every human condition is represented and expressed, and above all in the most holy Eucharist, we are invited to take our share in His great work of redemption.

Julian of Norwich wrote: ‘I understood that we be now, in our Lord’s meaning, in His Cross with Him in His pains and His Passion, dying; and we, willingly abiding in the same Cross with His help and His grace unto the last point, suddenly He shall change His Cheer to us, and we shall be with Him in Heaven’.

According to our state in life, and following the Lord’s will, may we take our share in the Passion of God’s Son, thus participating in the work of redemption; and may God bless you this day.