30th May

Surely, God is my salvation; I will truts and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. Isaiah 12, 2 & 3

"Those of which the world was not worthy "

(Hebrews 11, 38)

We can be surprised when we see how God puts an end to the earthly life of some of his servants. Moses dies all alone on a mountain, John the Baptist is beheaded in a prison, for the caprice of a malicious woman. Stephen is killed by being stoned. The apostle Paul finishes his life in a prison of Rome. God is sovereign. According to the biblical expression, "these men had completed their race" (Acts 13, 25 and 2 Timothy 4, 7).

We would have liked to see the great apostle peacefully finish his life in a home of a friend, in company of those who had served with him. God had decided differently. He had to complete it alone, abandoned of all, awaiting his execution probably in the dark prison of Mamertine, a pit which is still visited today. This brilliant light was to die out in the darkness of a dungeon. But there was somebody who was closer than the Roman soldier to whom he was connected. "The Lord has held close to me and strengthened me" (2nd Timothy 4, 17). Could he wish a better companion?

It is in the bottom of the prison where he stayed in all more than four years where Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians and exhorted them to rejoice not in the circumstances but in the Lord (4, 4). We also we can be delighted: we have peace with God, our communion is with the Father and we are on the way to glory.