Living the Christian Life in our Democracy
Our Presidential election results are unclear today, and so any election anxiety continues, but rather than let it consume us, offer it up for those millions and millions of people who do not have free and fair elections, that one day they may one experience them. Please, continue to pray for our nation.
St. Francis de Sales said, "Prayer brings our mind into the brightness of divine light and exposes our will to the warmth of divine love…. It is a blessed fountain which, as it flows, revives our good desires and causes them to bring forth fruit, washes away the stains of infirmity from our soul, and calms the passions of our hearts." [An Introduction to the Devout Life, p. 61]
May the water you use to wash your hands remind you of your Baptism when you became a child of God. God wants you to know He is listening and as Julian of Norwich wrote, “All shall be well, all manner of things shall be well.” Give your anxiety, your worries and your cares to Jesus, He will take care of them.
C.S. Lewis offers us a powerful insight, in his work, Mere Christianity, "Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to?
The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself." [C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 205]
When life gets difficult and hard, take some time to think about this C.S. Lewis’ illustration, then offer your pain and inconvenience to God and ask God to bless it and make good come from it.
May God Be Praised!
COVID 19 Pandemic Prayer
Hear my cry! “Lord, listen to my prayer: turn your ear to my appeal.” You are my refuge and my hope, I turn to you during this COVID 19 Pandemic and plead for Your intercession. In Your mercy and Your compassion “… grant eternal rest to the dead, comfort to mourners, healing to the sick ….”
[Psalm 143 and Collect from Mass Time in Pandemic]
Provide strength to the first responders, compassion to the medical personnel, and wisdom to government leaders. End this coronavirus scourge. Send Your light to me as I wander in the darkness of this pandemic and give me hope in Your eternal love today and every day. Amen. [Dcn. George Kelly]
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