Divine love is not defeated

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today present the position that we can count on the steadfast love of God at all times and through all difficulties. Paul proclaims to the Romans that nothing will separate the believer from the love of God. He has had personal experience of many of the difficulties which he enumerates, hardship, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness and peril. He is witness to the slaughter of the faithful and he is convinced that death too is a passing through which Divine love will triumph. The Gospel of Luke indicates that Jesus is becoming increasingly aware that His message and actions are perceived as a threat by the powerful and like the prophets before Him, who brought attention to how to live according to the will of God,  Jerusalem will be the site of His final encounter with the authorities. Divine love is not a guarantee of safety and security of person which dominates so much of our time, but it is a guarantee that in all events of life and death the Presence is our strength and victory.