Message from our Regional Director – October 2019

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Life is so full and there is so much to celebrate, that if we are not careful some important celebrations will go past us without us even knowing.

A woman who visits me for prayer and counselling told me that Sundays come faster now than when she was a young girl and that Christmas took a shorter time to turn around. She was trying to tell me that Sundays are like ordinary days to her and she even feels that Sunday Mass is not as it should be as it comes around too soon. This comes with some humour, but it is life, as some people experience it. We need to remember that Jesus came to give us life and life to the full.

September was full of various celebrations and full with life for our Church – the End of the 40 days of prayer for our country; the great and wonderful response to the Marian procession; the ordination of four new priests to our diocese. Added to this was the busy preparation for the Conference on Evangelization “Baptized and Sent “ which was an initiative of the Pontifical Mission Society, hosted by the Bishops of the AEC.

For all this we want to give thanks and celebrate consciously all that God places before us, so that we may draw life from all that God calls us to, not waiting for another Sunday Mass, not another conference, nor another thing to do but receiving life and life to the full.

Then, there in the midst of all this, is the battering of hurricane Dorian on the islands of the Bahamas bringing about terrible disasters and death and, more recently, the severe flooding in our own country by Tropical Storm Karen. Can we really celebrate when there is so much pain and disaster in our brother’s life? As we begin this new month, let us be challenged by the responsibility to be our brother’s keeper in a world that is turned in on itself because of the difficulty to embrace every opportunity as life giving, to be able to see the silver lining beneath the dark clouds and to experience the small light at the end of the dark tunnel becoming greater and greater as we trust God with hope and confidence. This is what Jesus offers – a life that is full. Difficulties we will always have as life turns around but this comes with the assurance that God is with us and will never abandon us. He wants us to draw close to Him and hold on to His love. And so,we continue to pray for the people of the Bahamas in their dire need and to respond to their needs through the established channels.

At our prayer meeting at LWC Barbados we were given the imagery for us to draw close to God by climbing the mountain to His love. Mountain climbing is a very hazardous thing and we need to be equipped, strong in our faith, focused and unafraid. As we journey up the mountain, we need to be careful of the elements, the terrain and put down our stakes as we move forward together holding and protecting one another. Let us climb the mountain of His love and live life to the full.

Mary Our Blessed Mother will care and pray for us. During October, the month of the Rosary, let us be faithful in praying the rosary daily. Blessings in abundance for an abundant life………Rose