These days, it’s so easy to get “sucked in” by the bad news of the day. One counter measure we can employ to help protect our souls during times like these is to take a more macro view of our lives. The following portion of a prayer by Oscar Romero, a Catholic Bishop in El Salvador who was martyred in 1980, is a great example of considering the longer view.
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
May peace surround you, grace guide you, and joy surprise you today as you work to help make our world a better place to live in.
Blessings, Fred
There’s a tale from the Jewish tradition that speaks of heaven and hell.