VICAR

Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and healthy. That your families are likewise booming and burgeoning.

Today I want to draw Your attention to those in our communities who have recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness.

I am minded of the scene in The Theory of Everything where the late Stephen Hawking is hunched in a seat in an empty hospital and his doctor tells him that he has two years to live. That Motor Neurone disease has no known cure. Hawking, characteristically, asks the doctor whether his brain will be affected. The doctor says no then walks away, leaving Hawking to deal with the new reality.

Some are strong and others are less able to face the music. The prospect of death, which is an inevitable part of life, still scares most people.

So today – as well as wishing You all a wonderful and peaceful week ahead – I leave a short passage from Philippians for the recently diagnosed below. That they may find resolve and peace. That – if that is the plan – they be healed.

“…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:6-7