When life is difficult… As you might imagine, a parish day involves daily doses of both life and death. With life we are afforded the beautiful substance of our parishioners lives, and we revel as we share with them the associated joy that goes with such things.
There is also the reverse, and at any given moment, there are those whose lives are not easy. Difficulties of any imaginable stripe are contended with, and as church, we are there to share with those as well in whatever way we can be of help and assistance. As a church, we pray, believing that our prayers make a difference. In all this, Jesus Christ is our source of joy in the good times, and our key to what (really Who) comforts us in the difficulties.
One main truth emerges. Strong faith in Jesus Christ is essential to navigating our God given life, especially when things become untravellable. When Christ gives meaning to our lives, our joy is ever more sweet as He is the source and giver of the good. When we have that
Jesus-driven focus, He becomes the pathway to the other side of our difficulties as well. Jesus is not a fixer, rather He is what makes the unfixable survivable.
I see evidence every day that God’s love for us is real, especially in my own life. I witness when faith in Jesus provides, if not answers, a reason to persevere, to hope, to know that we are not alone in our suffering. We see in Jesus all that He suffered that we might be saved. As dire as circumstances in our lives become, we will never be asked to do as much as Jesus did for us.
Give your lives to Jesus. Remember,
"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8: 38-39 +