Friday, November 11, 2022
Veterans’ Day in USA
Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop
Miles’ 6th birthday!
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
God is in it all
Miles’ sixth birthday does not go by unnoticed. Not at all. Gifts and cakes and parties. At kindergarten he gets to wear the birthday crown. He’ll be having friends over Saturday, all celebrating with the Paw Patrol. And tonight we’re going to Mozart’s on Lake Austin, replete with fireworks, Christmas music and lights, in the shadow of the Tom Miller Dam.
Aki’s birthday was Sunday, and mine is next Thursday, so we have three reasons to drink hot chocolate and watch the sun set over the Colorado River.
As for Saint Martin of Tours, his memorial comes on his death day, not his birthday. “A conscientious objector who wanted to be a monk, a monk who was maneuvered into being a bishop, a bishop who fought paganism but also pleaded for mercy to heretics – one of the most popular of saints and one of the first not to be a martyr.”
Some of your children are walking in the truth and following the commandment we have had from the beginning: “Let us love one another.”
“Martin was so dedicated to the freeing of prisoners that when authorities, even emperors, heard he was coming, they refused to see him because they knew he would request mercy for someone and they would be unable to refuse.”
St. Martin had a sweet compassion about him, a soft touch, a streak of love and grace. When he was given power and position, that didn’t change. Absolute power did NOT corrupt him absolutely.
He persuaded Emperor Maximus not to murder a group of heretics, but then Bishop Ithacius persuaded the emperor to kill them all. Martin was angry and deeply grieved.
Many deceivers have gone out into the world. Look to yourselves that you do not lose what we worked for.
Did Martin think of what Jesus warned us about? How did he avoid judgment and grudges himself? Did his streak of love prevail?
I tell you, whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it. Two people will be in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will grind meal together; one will be taken, the other left. Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather.
We often do not have words. But when the words are gone, I am in unfamiliar territory. Is God alive or dead? Who am I to question God’s silence? I think I should say something, but I am so angry, so sad, so frightened, and I feel very alone. God is in it all. Whether I feel it or not.
Let Go by Clarence Heller
One time God and I decided to pray together.
We sat looking at each other in silence.
Benevolent gazing.
Then God’s eyes closed, and I closed mine.
Waiting.
Waiting.
Then finally after succumbing to my impatience,
I opened my eyes to discover …
absence
nothingness
darkness
insecurity
opportunity
I was clinging to the edge of the great abyss,
only through trust.
And then I let go.
God is in it all. Whether I feel it or not.
(2 John, Psalm 119, Luke 21, Luke 17)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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