Early this Sunday morning I received two text messages, within minutes of each other. In one, a friend said she was terribly ill and had a horrible night, “Please pray for me.” In the other message a friend said her dear friend had a heart attack last night, “Please pray for him.” And, of course, I did. Later, as I was driving to Sunday mass, Divine Mercy Radio, with Dan and Stephanie Burke was on the air. I like that show, and the day before I had participated I in an on-line class with those two. But then I remembered my friends’ texted requests, and turned off the radio and said a rosary for their intentions.
It had been a busy week for me. God answered my morning prayer, “Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace …” with numerous thoughts and urgings. I met with three separate men’s groups from different parishes and was invited to participate in other meetings. I wrote pages of thoughts which came while in prayer. Midweek, I reviewed some of them with a local priest for his opinion, and to my great surprise he implemented a couple of those thoughts at mass the very next day! Meanwhile, one of the men’s groups took my thoughts to pray over, while another took the thoughts and said they’d implement them --- next year.
At mass this morning our pastor spoke about the declining numbers of priests. He noted that when Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941, many fathers sat down for a serious discussion with their sons, asking them to go protect our country. “Regarding the state of our Church, is it any different today,” the pastor asked? He challenged the men of the parish to have a serious discussion with their sons, on why they should consider joining the priesthood. “Fathers need to witness their faith to their sons,” he said.
In summary, that is the topic of the conversations I felt compelled to have with the various men’s groups. Men today need to stand up as men, and witness their faith to their families, their neighbors, and the world. In World War II, many who fought suffered and died, and many today who choose to defend our faith and Christian way of life may also expect to suffer. Many of my friends today see how their kids and grandkids are being poisoned by this culture, and they wring their hands. The motto of the ACTSXXIX organization says it right: “God Wants His Country Back.” It’s too late to draw a line in the sand, the waves are quickly washing away any lines. Now is the time to sink or swim. Men need to act.
In the past year, I’ve had a number of thoughts on what the Church could do to stop the culture’s flood. Most were received well, but with a “we’ll try to implement this next year” response. A man had a heart attack last night, and a friend said “Pray for him” --- NOW was the understood timing. A response of “I’ll try to find time to do that next month” or “I’ll have a mass said for him in a couple of months” would not have been well received. When we desperately need something, we expect prompt help from our friends, but when God or His Church needs something, why do His friends seem to respond with a “I’ll get to that next year, or I’ll think about it?”
If we treat Him that way, how much of a friend are we really?
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Later this afternoon, I went to take Communion to one of my homebound friends. When I entered her trailer, I saw, to my dismay, that her pyx for holding communion which sits on a little altar near the door, still held a host from yesterday. He daughter had been visiting and she got distracted, and didn’t realize she failed to receive Jesus the day before. I put the pyx with the host still in it next to her in her wheelchair, where she was watching Sunday mass on EWTN as I arrived. “Just in time for Communion,” she said, pointing to the television. I agreed, and I wondered what to do with the extra host I now had. But then I recalled my sick friend. I called her and asked about her health, and “did you go to mass today?” She hadn’t, and most gratefully accepted my offer to bring her Communion. “God is good,” she said. Yes, indeed. He loves us no matter what.
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