Happy New Year! I trust that as you receive this edition of In the Word, you are feeling rested and refreshed after a break over the Summer period.

As 2021 begins to unfold, it’s hard not to wonder what is in store for us after all the turmoil of 2020. And yet, our faith tells us it is better to take each day as it comes than to worry about the future.

There are two lovely statements about trusting God in today’s readings. In the first reading from Isaiah God says: Does a woman forget her baby at the breast, or fail to cherish the son of her womb? Yet even if these forget, I will never forget you.

This Sunday’s Gospel reading reminds us of two important lessons to be learned if we are to be sincere followers of Christ.