A few days ago a coworker of mine commented that everything in the newspaper recently has been bad news and depressing. Stories of war, oppression, violence on our city streets, refugee crises, xenophobia, desperate people taking their lives, sickness, poverty… We read these stories daily. It may be heartbreaking for us. Or, perhaps we are becoming numb to the pain of it so that it doesnt overwhelm us. We may wonder what will come of these situations. Will the violence end? When will leaders of nations seek diplomatic solutions to differences? When will fear and misunderstandings of the other cease to lead communities into crisis? We may even find ourselves asking, Does God not see this? Some of our questions do not have easy answers. However, the last one does. We are reminded by todays first reading of Gods concern for us, for all people, I will save my sheep… For thus says the Lord God, I myself will look after and tend my sheep. Our God is a loving and merciful God. If God ever weeps, perhaps the situations of our world are causing God to weep these days. But not from a distance. Our God is not distant from our pain or our challenges. God is in the midst of it - at the center of our very being. We must partner with God in caring for the needs of our world. As the often quoted line from St. Teresa of Avila reminds us, we are the hands and feet of Christ in our broken world. A question each of us could ask is how is God desiring to partner with me in addressing the needs around us? How is God calling me to respond? There are many serious problems in our communities, our nation and our world. How is God going to work through each of us to care for those in need? Perhaps the answers to these are not directly related to global issues (although, for some of us the answers may be). However, no doubt each of us can have some impact on an area of need. The question is are we open to God working through us to address it? Today let us pray for the graces of compassion and discernment. May our hearts be open to those in need and may we discern well the ways that God wishes to care for others through us. Let us also pray for peace. Peace in troubled hearts. Peace on our city streets. Peace among nations. Many blessings and peace to you on this Wednesday, friends.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 10:17:51 +0000
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