Inbox Inspiration: April 22, 2020: Living Through This - 5

Living Through This - 5 

Dear Friends,
Last Wednesday, I shared some thoughts from Pope Francis.
On March 27, the Holy Father delivered an address directed to the entire world about the coronavirus crisis.
The context of the Pope’s reflections is the Gospel of Mark 4:35-41 – Jesus in a boat with the disciples when the water becomes very rough and frightening.
Here are some more of Francis’ reflections.

“The storm exposes our vulnerability and uncovers those false and superfluous certainties around which we have constructed our daily schedules, our projects, our habits and priorities…The tempest lays bare all our prepackaged ideas and forgetfulness of what nourishes our people’s souls…We deprive ourselves of the antibodies we need to confront adversity.
“Like the disciples, we will experience that with him on board there will be no shipwreck. Because this is God’s strength: turning to the good everything that happens to us, even the bad things. He brings serenity into our storms, because with God life never dies.
“‘Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?’ Lord, you are calling to us, calling us to faith. Which is not so much believing that you exist, but coming to you and trusting in you…You are calling on us to seize this time of trial as a time of choosing. It is not the time of your judgement, but of our judgement: a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not. It is a time to get our lives back on track with regard to you, Lord, and to others.”

So, we are in a storm – on a stormy sea.
We now realize our vulnerability.
We turn to the risen Christ.
We resolve to identify a way we will continue to do this every day.
We resolve to discern what is important from what is not important.
We resolve to discern what is a necessity from what is not a necessity.
And with this, we are back on track and allowing the risen Christ to provide us with the antibodies we need especially for the adversities of life.

May the peace and healing action of Jesus Christ come upon us! Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner