Bishop Davies invites us to courage and constancy in faith

Bishop Mark Davies


Bishop Mark Davies has issued a pastoral letter for the Diocese of Shrewsbury for the close of the Year of Faith. He refers to the hostility shown to Our Lord on the Cross ("he saved others ... let Him save Himself) and recalls the violence and intimidation suffered by Christians in many parts of the world today. Bishop Davies helpfully refers people to religious freedom report of Aid to the Church in Need: Persecuted and Forgotten?

He points out that this persecution suffered by others gives perspective to the antagonism that we might experience and invites us to a renewed profession of faith. He recalls his own motto Nihil sine Christo (nothing without Christ) and calls us to turn to the grace of Christ and above all to Christ present in the Eucharist. He concludes:
I have no doubt that the future of our Diocese will be decided by the courage and constancy of such faith. In my first letter to the Diocese three years ago I echoed the prayer of the first apostles who said to the Lord: “Increase our faith!” (Lk 17:5). At the end of this Year of Faith I ask you to renew with me this same prayer in the Mass today where “the sacrifice of Christ offered once for all on the cross remains ever present” (CCC 1364). Before Christ our Lord, truly present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, let us say: “Lord, increase our faith!” Increase our faith so that we may go from Mass every Sunday to give our own courageous and constant witness to Christ the King.
Here is a link to the text of the Pastoral Letter.

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