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Good morning.

Five weeks ago today the country and people of  Nepal were literally rocked to their foundations.  As we know, the earthquake killed thousands of people, injured thousands more and left hundreds of thousands without homes, food or water.  Five weeks later the world has moved on, but for the people of Nepal five months or even five years will not see the end of the rebuilding of every aspect of their lives.  Our Congregation has sisters living and working in Nepal, principally engaged in the education of girls, so my own sense of involvement is as great now as it was five weeks ago as I get regular bulletins about the fear of yet more tremors (like everyone else they slept outside for the first week after the earthquake), the lack of construction materials and of builders, skilled and unskilled, to repair or rebuild.  The sheer scale of what needs to be undertaken is overwhelming and yet each day they get up and get on, trusting that their efforts will not be immediately undone.  I have been touched and moved by the courage and resilience of my sisters and of the people whom they live alongside and try to serve.  This is not courage on a grand scale, it is day-to-day courage that faces into the endless day-to-day difficulties with cheerfulness and lack of self-pity.  Whilst we in our country are unlikely to have to face the dismantling of our lives on such a huge scale, nonetheless we all, whatever our situation in life, face difficulties that require resilience and perseverance and courage in the face of them.  Whatever your difficulties are, may those gifts – because they are gifts – be yours as well.

Lord, help us to be of good courage, today and every day.  Amen.