Here is part of the third Servant Song of Isaiah: ‘The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him that is weary. Morning by morning he wakens, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward’.

St John Chrysostom wrote: ‘For the railings, and insults, and reproaches and gibes inflicted by enemies and their plots are compared with a worn-out garment and moth-eaten wool when God says, “Do not fear the reproach of people, neither be afraid of their revilings, for they shall grow old as does a garment, and like moth-eaten wool so shall they be consumed.” Therefore, let none of these things that are happening trouble [you] … Persistently call on Jesus … and in a moment of time all these evils will be dissolved’.

Jesus has walked the path of suffering before us, therefore we need not fear. As we approach the Sacred Triduum, let us walk forward in faith and in trust; and may God bless you this day.