"Every century is like every other, and to those who
live in it seems worse than all."
John Henry Newman
I have noticed that many seem to be discouraged by the current state of
things, and the catalyst is an election that seems to offer only the choice
between two distasteful alternatives. We have been battered for years
now by the repeated crushing of hope, and the impulse to reform, by the
powerful moneyed interests of a relative few who seem to honor or uphold
nothing but their own greed.
If I am being objective, and not focused only on the present day, I am
profoundly grateful that I do not have to face (yet I say with hope) the
obstacles that our parents, and grandparents, and great-grandparents faced
over and over for years.
They personally faced absolutely brutal world wars which slaughtered
millions, and many of them were dirt poor in terrible Depressions where all
hope was almost lost. They faced industrial accidents and exploitation,
child labor, enslavement, and powerful repressions by sick men and women.
And even now there are those facing things such as that in the world as it is
today, and if anything we should be appalled that we do so little or nothing
to relieve their distress. And, may God forgive us, we sometimes stand
by while our own people may be inflicting these hardships upon others.
But we are distracted from all this, by feeling sorry for our own
disappointments and troubles.
This is not to say that we do not have problems. This year has been so bad
for us personally, and for others that I know from Le Cafe, that at
times I wanted to cry out like Job.
But putting our own temptation to wallow in despair aside, one finds they can
rise above these things, sometimes with the help of others and sometimes with
a slow but steady determination, and make things good where they can, for
themselves and most importantly for others.
And that is enough, for it is our lot in this life. Not to make an
account of all the things that we do not like, that frighten us, that may
potentially harm us, that concern us, that could go wrong, that afflict us in
our daily lives like 'a thorn in the flesh.'
We are called to stand up and witness to the fully human life, in grace that
is given, not cheaply by ourselves, but by our resolve and determination to
follow Him in our calling.
Where there is sickness bring healing, where there is despair bring hope, and
where there is darkness, light.
Not in some abstract sending out of good thoughts, which if fine for a start,
but more importantly in some tangible acts of kindness and goodness for our
families, and friends, and acquaintances, and finally even for those who are
undeserving. There is so much that needs to be done, that we are
finally tempted to do nothing. But all we are asked to do is to begin,
and do something even if it only something little.
Little acts of goodness spread like ripples in a pond.
"God has created me to do Him some definite service;
He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I
have my mission -- I may never know it in this life but I shall be told it in
the next.
I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not
created me for naught.
I shall do good, I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a
preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it if I do but keep His
commandments.
Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I
am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may
serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him.
He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about.
He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me
feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me -- still He knows
what He is about.
We are slow to master the great truth that even now Christ is, as it were,
walking among us, and by His hand, or eye, or voice, bidding us to follow
Him. We do not understand that His call is a thing that takes place now. We
think it took place in the Apostles' days, but we do not believe in it; we do
not look for it in our own case.
Let us feel what we really are--sinners attempting great things. Let us
simply obey God's will, whatever may come. He can turn all things to our
eternal good. Easter day is preceded by the forty days of Lent, to show us
that they only who sow in tears shall reap in joy.
The more we do, the more shall we trust in Christ; and that surely is no
morose doctrine, that leads us to soothe our selfish restlessness, and forget
our fears, in the vision of the Incarnate Son of God.
May the Lord support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen, and the
evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over,
and our work is done.
Then in His mercy may He give us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace
at the last.”
John Henry Newman
Caesar was swimming in blood, Rome and the whole pagan
world was mad.
"But those who had had enough of transgression and madness, those who
were trampled upon, those whose lives were misery and oppression, all the
weighed down, all the sad, all the unfortunate, came to hear the wonderful
tidings of God, who out of love for men had given Himself to be crucified and
redeem their sins.
When they found a God whom they could love, they had found that which the
society of the time could not give any one, -- happiness and love."
Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis, 1905
