Generally, I have a hard time keeping them. But a few patient souls have stood by me no matter how depressed and moody I get, and lift me up with their hope. My wife is amazing that way, whose first concern this morning was getting me out of the depressed funk she knew I'd be in after last night. She sent me THIS from the Priests for Life. I shudder to think where I'd be without her.
Another true Ciceronian friend is Father Barry, whom I have known for a decade but have only gotten to know recently, a fact that is a testament to the good of Instant Messaging, as it allows friends to remain so even when living 1000s of miles away, a situation Cicero advised against not having had the technology to chat.
Today, Fr. Barry once again PUT IT ALL IN PERSPECTIVE, and for that I thank him again. As he says, look to today's reading for an eerie feeling of appropriateness:
My beloved, obedient as you have always been,
not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent,
work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
For God is the one who, for his good purpose,
works in you both to desire and to work.
Do everything without grumbling or questioning,
that you may be blameless and innocent,
children of God without blemish
in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
among whom you shine like lights in the world,
as you hold on to the word of life,
so that my boast for the day of Christ may be
that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
But, even if I am poured out as a libation
upon the sacrificial service of your faith,
I rejoice and share my joy with all of you.
In the same way you also should rejoice and share your joy with me.
5 comments:
I'm trying to figure out which part of that reading seems more eerily appropriate at this particular moment: the "do everything without grumbling or questioning" line, or the "in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation" one.
Seeing as how you are currently in a funk, I hate to do this to you; but given our discussion over at IC today, I couldn't help it:
"I shutter to think where I'd be without her."
It's possible, I suppose, that you meant you close the windows of your soul against such black thoughts of life without your darling wife...but somehow I don't think that's what you were going for.
Consider me in your low-level-yellow range of annoyance.
Dang it. You nailed me. I suck at writing, but will edit accordingly.
...and now I will cower in fear of the day when you inevitably call me out on some egregious mistake over at IC. Heh.
And I will sharpen my concentration and tongue...
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