11 Jul 2021
Bow down thy head O Lord, from the heavens, come down and bless your children let peace reign in your world, be our strength and salvation.
2020 & 2021 has been tumultuous years brought on by COVID-19, over 2 million deaths, political unrest filled the pages of newspapers and television screens. Civil wars in most of Africa, racial tension in the USA brought on by leaders seeking to enhance their political resumes, not looking at the deadly rise of black-on-black-crime. They find justification in same sex-unions and ugliness among political-parties, even the murder of a president in our hemisphere in Haiti almost unreported. St. Francis of Assisi said, “God creates our choices and leaves us to choose” in this defining world we must choose, but don’t do so to the whims of social media but our hearts, where we rely on the scriptures “Heaven and earth will pass away but my word will remain”.
None of us has volunteered to be here. We did not get to choose our names or nationality; we were giving to the earth by God and in so doing we developed faith that leans us closer to him.
Our youth have taken to Technology, turned to violence, Education is no longer a priority. With recent challenges in my personal health, I could have sat back and pitied my lament, but as a servant of God I found abounding peace in God’s grace. I found comfort in the words of Jesus, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, let not your heart be troubled".
We will face disillusionment and actions that we will not understand but we must look to the cross where Jesus suffered. We must find that divine spark that keeps our focus doing what is right, teaching others the same. No two things are the same, what matters is that we fight with honor reaching those who are inflicted by the personal motivated actions. We must continue to pray for our military wounded soldiers who came home to find that they are almost outcast.
We will continue to have challenges, civil disorder but listen to St Paul, “Love one another with mutual affection, show honor to others, extend hospitality, when I was a child, I behave as a child but when I became an adult I behave as one”. Advances in social-media will continue but we as Christians must be stubborn, fight with the weapons God gave us, when we spiritually-attack we must hold nothing back, we must use prayer as our total resolve as we listen closely to the voice of God.
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