A CALL to resist the world of violence and learn ways of peacemaking has been made by the Bishop of Worcester in his Lenten message.

The message, to be heard in churches across the diocese on Sunday, refers to Christ's temptation in the wilderness, when he resisted the inducements that the Devil put before him.

"We have much that we need to resist," says the Bishop, the Rt Rev Dr Peter Selby, advising our "weapons" should be love, joy and peace, strengthened by prayer.

He says that when the message is read, we could still be hearing of imminent war, be at war, or have averted conflict.

"Whichever is the case, we shall still be living in a world where the resort to violence - by nations and by individuals - is an all too frequent instinct," he said.

He also called on his flock to strengthen their resistance to the climate of financial worry and acquisitiveness by fasting and to practise generosity of spirit by some extra giving during Lent.

"Above all, let this Lent be a time of resistance to all that contradicts God's will for the world," he said.