The more excellent way that Christ shows us is slowly beginning to take shape here. As more people become Christians, uniting themselves in the one body of Christ, in the one tribe of God, there are changes in life here. In the midst of the darkness that pervades this land, there is a small, steady light shining ahead of us, leading us to that more excellent way.

The journey is hard. Millennia of hatred must be overcome. Becoming members of one body, and combining to make up that one body, means turning our backs on the communities in which we were nurtured, in which we have always found our meaning. Transforming those communities through the Gospel for the sake of the Gospel takes time.

But changes are happening. Communities are being transformed. The light of Christ is shining through. With those changes, with that transformation, because of that light, the more excellent way begins to conquer the hatred and fear and destruction.

The challenge is to stay focused on Christ's light and to refuse to go back into the darkness. We pray hard here: Lead us, Lord, in your way.

PRAY for the Diocese of Antananarivo (Indian Ocean)

Ps 19; Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Luke 4:14-21

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