It seems impossible to watch a television news bulletin or to pick up a newspaper without seeing the latest developments in the BREXIT negotiations.

Will we achieve a deal with the EU or will we leave with no deal?

Will we get a Canada plus plus (plus) deal? What will happen to the border in Ireland?

All of these are important questions for our country and its leaders at this time, but I would like, just for a short while, to consider another programme of exit which is affecting our society today and that is the exit of people from our churches and from lives of faith.

You see, if we stick with the news bulletin or read on in the paper, we will see that crime is increasing, poverty is increasing, the National Health Service is struggling, etc, etc.

I believe that at least some of these back stories are fuelled by people moving away from lives of Christian faith.

All of the Christian traditions tell us very clearly that the human heart has Christ inscribed on it and it is only by developing a relationship with Christ, through a life of prayer and Christian commitment, that we will become truly fulfilled.

It seems that a lot of people try to fill their lives with other things, be they success, honour, money, sex, alcohol, drugs, etc. You see, these things can only ever satisfy us in the short term. Take, for example, money.

The more we earn, the more we want.

We get a pay rise and alter our standard of living.

Very soon we find we need more money and on and on it goes.

The same can be said for all of the other worldly attributes which we can be tempted to fill our lives with. It is only by placing Christ at the very centre of our lives that we can achieve true happiness.

Also, by doing this, we become much more aware of those around us who are struggling and try, in our own way, to help them.

I have a feeling that, 12 months from now, when all of the questions about BREXIT have been answered and we have left the EU, life will be fairly similar for most of us, regardless of the decisions.

However, if we can stop the exit from lives of faith, I would say that we would be living in a much safer, happier, well balanced society than we live in today.