Reading the newspapers or listening to the news is like a daily journey to heartbreak. Two brothers are killed over the price of tomatoes. The body of a kidnap victim is found.

Children cannot get to school because the roads in their area are so impassable that there is no transport. Food prices are increasing on a weekly basis. People die in the hospital from minor ailments and injuries. Corruption pervades all levels of our society.

How do we respond to these issues? We can't avoid these issues and despite the fact that gated communities are on the rise we can't barricade ourselves from them, because more and more they are right where we are. In the words of the poet, John Donne, “ do not send to ask for whom the bells tolls, it tolls for thee .”

The Gospel this week is about Jesus going into Gallilee to proclaim the Good News from God. And he did this right after he heard that John had been arrested. John's arrest could not have been good news to Jesus. John was his cousin, they shared the same beliefs, the same sense of mission.

Jesus' response to this bad news is very interesting: he did not run away or hide. In fact he sees this moment, a moment of bad news, as the time to launch his own public ministry.

In the face of John's imprisonment, Jesus loudly proclaims his vision of a just society – the Kingdom of God is close at hand . Repent and believe the Good News

It made me realise that when really terrible things happen, when things get really bad, we need to do what Jesus did . We need to proclaim that there is a different and better way to live – that the Kingdom of God is close at hand.

In Trinidad and Tobago today, despite our Government's much vaunted “Vision 2020” our society really seems to be falling apart. Just imagine the murder count for the year has already exceeded the number of days in the year and it is still only January.

But this week's Gospel encourages us – even in the midst of all this bad news - to have a vision of a society that lives the values of Jesus - the Kingdom of God.

To imagine a society where all our people and all our children are safe and respected, where everyone has what they need (not what they want), where there is no corruption, violence or hatred.

Repent and believe the Good News – Repent is our own change of consciousness, our own conversion to “ believing this Good News” – knowing that change is possible and that we can make it happen in our own lives, our homes, our society. Wherever we are, whatever walk of life we are in, we can work towards bringing that vision into being.

In the first reading Jonah goes off with great reluctance to the city of Nineveh to proclaim repentance and renewal, fully expecting that no one will take him on and no one will change. Much to his surprise, the people of Nineveh change their lives. The same can happen here.

Last Monday (Jan 16) was celebrated in the US as Martin Luther King Day. At perhaps the most trying and difficult moment of the Civil Rights Movement, he was able to say to his followers, “in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream…”

And as we all know, through the efforts of Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement a whole change of consciousness came about that allowed real changes to take place in attitudes, laws and institutions in the United States .

Part of Martin Luther's dream was that “my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have that dream today”. What dream do we have today for our children?

Today we need to say, that in the midst of all the bad news of increasing poverty and violence, that we share the dream of Jesus, a dream that our children will live in a nation where their lives will not be threatened by abuse and prejudice, poverty and corruption, random violence and crime, but where they will be loved, well-provided for, safe and secure, encouraged and educated to be the best they can be and empowered to contribute fully and generously to building a just and equal society - the Kingdom of Heaven.

Help us, Lord, to draw strength from the words and vision of Jesus and of the great men and women who believed the Good News from God that the Kingdom of God is close at hand and who acted to bring His vision into being.

Show us, O God, how to be the Church of Jesus : always facing up to injustice, speaking for the silent and calling our society from violence. AMEN

Patricia Elie is a parishioner of Santa Rosa , Arima. She leads the Lectio Divina group in her parish.