In Times of Turmoil 

   There are times in our lives when we must face extremely difficult circumstances.  Times we can see nothing that we can do to help resolve the situation and can’t understand why it has happened.  In those times of turmoil, the only real relief I have found is in prayer.

   I won’t say that prayer always fixes things as I would wish them to be fixed or that prayer always tells me why things happen and helps me understand.  But in prayer and with faith and trust in my Lord, all things can be endured.

   One of the places I find great comfort in those times is in the Psalms:

 

“For God alone my soul waits in silence,

   for my hope is from him,

He is my rock and my salvation,

   my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

On God rests my deliverance and my honor;

   my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

 

Trust in him at all times, O people;

   pour out your heart before him;

   God is a refuge for us.” 

   (Psalm 62: 5 – 8)

  Prepare for Eternity 

   I do not know on what day or what time the Lord will come to take me to Himself.  Therefore, I must consider that each day could very well be the last and always be prepared for eternity.

   While some may consider this line of thought morbid or depressing, it shouldn’t be; it is simply recognizing that death is a fact of life.  We need to live our lives always recognizing that fact and prepare ourselves for what comes after.  When I consider my mortality and live my life preparing for eternity there is no need to fear death whenever it may come.

   I believe that when this life is over Jesus will come for me and take me to Himself.  He promised as much when He told the apostles, “In my Father’s house there are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14: 2 – 3). That promise gives me hope and tells me that I must prepare for His coming in all that I do.

   Life is an unknown in many ways and one of those unknowns is when it will end.  Eternity is ever lasting and never ends.  We prepare for so many things in life but are we prepared for eternity?

 

 Commitment 

   We live in a society that has forgotten the meaning of commitment.  It is not longer a solemn promise or vow, but simply a conditional offering that may be withdrawn whenever convenient.

   “Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.” (St. Augustine). He knew that he was not what he wanted to be unless he gave up those pleasures and desires that he so wanted to retain.  Once he made the commitment and gave all to the Lord, he became one of the greatest saints of the Church.

   Augustin knew that he could not be the man he was meant to be without total commitment; God will not accept a “Yes, but”, only a “Yes Lord, Your will be done.”  Anything less places God on the same level as all those earthly desires that we want to retain rather than offering all to God.  Our hearts must belong to Him, and we must let Him move out all that is not Him.

   Christian commitment is hard and the more sincere the commitment the more Satan will attack it.  The attacks may be subtle or blatant, but they will come.   I am not strong enough to fight Satan alone; I must have God on my side.  With Him to strengthen me I can fight the good fight and stay true to the commitment I have made to Him.

   Nothing in this life is more important than a commitment to God.  Nothing in this life will matter once our time on earth is done.  All will be gone except the treasure that we have gained in heaven through a life committed to serving Him.

 Do Not Fear 

   “Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free.  With the Lord on my side I do not fear.  What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118: 5 – 6) 

   There are some things that we should be afraid; a poisonous snake about to strike or a vicious dog preparing to attack for example.  What we should not fear is the future of this world; it is in God’s hands and all be done according to His will.

   That doesn’t mean that we should not do those things that make us good stewards of the creation God has entrusted to us, or to have no concern for those who need our assistance.  It is our responsibility to care for the many gifts God has given and to love our neighbor.

   The fear I’m talking about is the sometimes over-whelming despair about the evil in the world and the fact that it seems to be increasing daily.  These things have happened before and will happen again.  This kind of fear is a tool of Satan.  Fear of this sort encourages us to give up, to decide all is lost and there is nothing good to come.  In a such a demoralized state we become easy targets for the Devil’s evil temptations.

   “In the world you will have trouble; but be brave, I have conquered the world.” (John 16:33).  These words of our Lord to His apostles shortly before His passion and death bring great peace and hope.  No matter the evil the world may bring, evil has ultimately been defeated.  The battles will continue because Satan never gives up on bringing souls to his evil ways, but even he knows that his time is limited.

   Pope Benedict XVI said, “In the end, God wins.”  This is the source of my hope; this is what brings peace to my soul.  When the Lord comes again in glory all things will be made new.

 Abandoning Society 

   When I look around our nation today I can easily understand why the early Desert Fathers left the society in which they lived seeking God in solitude away from the overwhelming evil.

   In our nation today I see reports of people shoving people, even little children, into the path of subway trains; for no apparent reason a person is hit with a baseball bat while walking down the street, homeless people are beaten and stabbed to death by gangs of teenagers.  Children are killing children; millions of babies are being slaughtered in their mother’s womb.  Hatred and violence is everywhere and grows worse by the day.

   Even in the churches many religious leaders are failing in their mission to teach and spread the gospel of the Lord.  They are far too willing to bend to the whims of a sinful society rather than call out the evil pervading the nation and the world.  Many would fit right in with the Scribes and Pharisees who demanded our Lord’s crucifixion in order to save their own comfortable position in society.

   Is there an urge within me to follow the example of early Desert Fathers and just go away?  I suppose, but where could I go to get away from the evil that is everywhere?  I’ll just stay where I am, live my life for the Lord and pray for a revival of Christian faith and morality.  I sometimes think that I will be disappointed in that hope, but prayer is a powerful weapon against evil.  I am comforted by the fact that Christ has overcome the world.  Amen, come soon Lord.

 The Greatest Gift 

“So faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor 13: 13) 

   Love originates in God; He is love itself.  All He does is done for love.  There was no need to create the universe and all that is in it.  He created because He loved and wanted to share that love.  Man and woman were not and are still not necessary to God, but He created them that they may share in His love.

   Within each of us there is a desire, a need to love others and to be loved by others.  The marital act strengthens that love and commitment to one another in a sacramental marriage.  “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh”. (Gen 2: 24).

   There will no need for faith in the next life; we will possess what our faith has promised.  Hope will cease to exist; all we have hoped for will be known.  But love, Gods greatest gift to us will remain through all eternity.  If our society, our culture is to continue, we must begin to love one another as God loves us. 

   “Love is patient, love is kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude.  Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at the wrong, but rejoices in the right.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Cor 4 – 7). 

 

 The Epiphany of the Lord 

   “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews?  For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship Him.” (Matt 2: 1 – 2) 

   The long-waited Messiah had been born and yet it was foreigners who came to proclaim His birth and worship Him.  The Jews, who had all the prophecies and were supposedly anxiously waiting for the Christ had no idea that He had been born.  When told about His birth Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him (Matt 2: 3).

   The only Jews who celebrated the birth of our Lord were the shepherds, those considered among the lowest of people.  Angels proclaimed the birth of Jesus to them and they went to pay Him homage (Luke 2: 10 – 15).  Born into obscurity, our Lord would never gain the recognition of the majority of the Jewish people, God’s chosen ones.

   At the end of His life, it was the Jews who demanded His crucifixion.  He had healed the blind, cured the sick, gave the deaf their hearing, cast out demons, and even raised the dead.  I wonder which of these miracles they consider worthy of His death on the cross.  More likely they were concerned with their own place in society and the perks that came with it.  Like many in the Church today, they played to their own desires and the desires of a sick society who had rejected God.

   It was a pagan who announced to the world that Jesus was the King of the Jews.  Pontius Pilate had a plaque placed on Jesus’ cross that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” (John 19: 19).  It was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, the three dominate languages of the time.

   Epiphany means “manifested” or recognized.  Jesus was manifested by foreigners at His birth and by a foreigner at His death.  He was never accepted by the majority of those He came to save.  The question we must ask ourselves is, has He been manifested in me?  Does He live within me?  Do I accept Him and worship Him as the savior of the world?