The Challenge to Persevere

Hi. Peace. May this rainy day (in Texas and Louisiana and, possibly, in Georgia?)) bring drought relief to both your area which is such need of rain and to your heart and soul.

Please keep Denise and her family in your prayers. Their father passed away peacefully yesterday morning. He just stopped breathing. No stress. No heart attack or stroke. He just stopped.

God is so good. At about 6:45 AM Sunday, Jerry’s second daughter was leaving the hospital room to speak to the nurses. She leaned over him and whispered, “It’s time to go, Daddy. It’s ok.” I, too, had awakened sometime in the early morning and pleaded, “I know I asked that you be gentle, Father. But, isn’t it time?” And, there is no telling how many others in our family had asked God to act. God heard and answered and He blessed us and He blessed Jerry with a gentle transition into eternity. Please pray for Jerry although any of us who knew him closely realize that he is already joined to his loved ones and stands amid the throng praising God with full voice and spirit. Please pray for Jerry’s children, step-children, surviving brother and sister, grand and great grand-children. This is a heavy loss. And, ask God to cover them all as they travel home for the funeral.

Today, St. Paul reminds us that we are children of the New Covenant. We are not bound by the chains of the Law and the Old Covenant. We are called to live according to our Faith in Jesus by loving all, everyone, our enemies, those who do not believe, and even those who are bound by the Old Covenant and the Old Law. How far are we supposed to take this “love” commandment? Well, in my life, the only way to overcome my own sinful tendencies has been to “die to self” and to trust in God’s love for me. The surest way to solve a disagreement seems to be to offer an apology and hope that the other party will reciprocate. Of course, you run the risk of appearing “weak” when you do that. At the other extreme is martyrdom and today we consider martyrdom a waste, the choice of a nut case. No. Really. Few of us would accept death without a fight – for whatever reason. Few of us would allow the violent non-believer take our life because we believe in Jesus Christ. Yet, the Apostles, St. Paul, many of the saints, and even our recent example, Cassie Bernall, the little girl at Columbine High School, all stood for Christ and braved a violent death for Him. Why? Because they understood Jesus’ promise of Eternal Life to anyone who would believe in Him and follow His commandments. They all chose love rather than violence. It is as St. Paul says it. We are not bound by the Old Covenant. We are bound by Love. We have a choice. We can choose sin. We can choose self-preservation. Or, we can choose Christ.

Let us pray for the strength of character to deny our passions for the sake of Eternal Life, to choose Love rather than violence, to accept our cross and to walk with Him on the way to Golgotha rather than to avoid the trials of life, to accept His discipline at all times, and to remain optimistic that His plan, regardless of what it means to our savings, our businesses, our lives, is always better than our plan.

Pray for our entire membership. Pray for our struggling businesses and problems at work. Pray for everyone with financial troubles. Pray for those of us who harbor secret addictions. Pray for the humility and the trust to make a good confession. Pray for all that we might embrace the Gifts of the Holy Spirit which have come to each of us through the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. Pray that all Christians and all priests and ministers will be faithful to the flocks entrusted to them by God. Pray!

Be like Bartimaeus! Pray! Trust! Expect!

In Him and in His love,

Lou