Seek the Lord when all seems lost; Exult in Christ with all his grace!

Seek the Lord when all seems lost; Exult in Christ with all his grace!

It is never too late to reach out to the Lord every moment a depressing entity appears and it says to our weakened existence; “Now you should quit for he has forgotten you.”  

The Lord, whom we through our sins placed him on the Cross out of our compunction and in his Passion was already preparing for our redemption once we accepted the meaning of Lent, Easter, and our own resurrection as a finality of creation’s ultimate goal.  

There is a constant battle in the minds of mankind that is having a difficult time believing that no matter how serious our sinfulness becomes we are not excluded from the meaning of the Passion that Jesus endured for us. 

During Lent we might go through the Stations of the Cross, ensure our alms-giving is real towards the poor, or renew our prayers’ sustenance towards our own sinfulness.  But the real essence is to believe that throughout the year the grace of Christ is available just by our faith.  Anytime we attempt to teach new postulants the meaning of the Easter vigil and what baptism is all about it is also a reeducation for us to absorb the very words of forgiveness for our own sins.  

How easy it can become to teach others then forget we are teaching ourselves as well.  Even preachers can say that the words of Christ that we speak of healing our souls are for us as well.  In fact, the very essence of our message is directed to us first and the audience is looking at a sinner speaking for his own forgiveness.  

No matter how often and how much we exert our blessings for the poor we still leave a void for those we may have forgotten or never were aware of these continuing needs.  We must continue to pray, support, and assist in their abilities to rise above the evils that will keep them away from Christ and his grace which is so needed in this world we are part of.

There are a few persons that have rejected the Church and her sacraments because of a situation that arose due to sexual abuse by a priest.  One got married in the Church but refuses to attend Mass over that.  He wants to keep it from all the family, except his wife.  They just had a new arrival in a baby boy and my hope is he will accept baptism for his son.  Another member’s father must have had a similar experience and forbade his daughter to have her small children baptized.  I would welcome the opportunity to speak with them and direct them to the Church and a priest that they could trust.  I wait for the Holy Spirit to make the next move.    

These are just two of the members of spiritual poverty that goes on everywhere.  We must be careful not to sit as judges on these victims and even the priests who themselves are living with guilt that has corrupted the righteousness of these people who were victims of an evil that is rampant everywhere.  They are the souls who appear lost and need the grace of Christ to find peace through the heart of Christ.   Pray with me that the grace of Christ will reach them in some divine manner for their coming back to the Church with trust.

Ralph B. Hathaway