Today we celebrate the feast of St Athanasius who lived in the 4th century AD. He is most famous for his defence of the divinity of Jesus against the Arian heresy which claimed that Jesus was only a man. The First Reading reminds us of the basic simplicity of our faith - to believe that Jesus is the Christ and that he is truly the Son of God and to keep his commandments. These commandments are simple. In fact, there is really only one - to love our brothers and sisters (and that includes every single person) as Jesus has loved us for "wherever there is love, God is there too." At the same time, the Gospel reminds us that being a loving and caring people does not guarantee we will be loved in return. It was not true of Jesus, it was not true of his disciples, it was not true of Athanasius so we should not be surprised if we also experience hostility as a loving people. But, if we continue to love in such circumstances, we know that our love is genuine and that God is with us.