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Dear brothers and sisters,

Jesus is very clear about the call to His disciples to bear fruit, something that is simply impossible unless we remain close to Him, part of the vine.

Given the current worldview - with conflict, famine, challenges to our climate, economic hardship, and an ever-present devaluing of the dignity of human life before our eyes in the news at almost every moment - the Lord’s call to each of us to bear fruit, to be His disciples, is a call to action to each and every one of us. This action grows out of prayer, our experience of the Eucharist, and our encounter with the Lord as we see Him present in others.

St John in his first letter expresses it another way: our love is not to be just words or mere talk but something real and active. This is the measure of our discipleship, the proof that we are children of the truth, coheirs with Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

At the beginning of Lent, we heard the words of St Paul: "now is the favourable time, this is the day of salvation." This same sense of urgency is with us each and every day as we seek to do the Lord's work and is most pressing in these present times. May our experience of faith, a lived relationship with the person of Jesus, find expression in our care for our brothers and sisters wherever they may be.

With every blessing,

+ Richard

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