Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - February 24, 2022
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
On the eve of his 79th birthday Ben was prompted to write the author of these Reflections. Because his email runs the gamut of human experience, I will use it as a scaffolding for comments, suggestions, and questions.
“(His wife) Jodi is in bad shape. The pain of the cancer has overwhelmed her. She has pushed me away. Therapists tell me it happens. So, I pray daily and often during the day for her.” Both widowed, they married each other about five years ago. Many who trust in prayer know that we cannot dictate what our God will do even though we pray for lessening of pain. Those who pray in every serious situation realize that God’s response may be beyond our hope or expectation. Isn’t it possible that any prayer serves a purpose?
Next Ben writes: “I also thought of my college classmate Ted Maher. He died in 2011, overcome by Agent Orange (from time in Vietnam). He had a lot of anger about this. Additionally, having a daughter born seriously disabled fed his anger.” Ted was angry with God? Life? Fate? Destiny? etc. God, he might have been thinking, had dealt him a double dose of pain and hardship. Perhaps he muses: “Why does God pick on me?”
Ted was a prize-winning artist in his specialty, Native American history. Does every human life have a mix of success and hardship? What are other ways of looking at adversity? Should we ask with Job: “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10) Do we face adverse situations in our life as we think we should? How does adversity contribute to my becoming the person I’d like to be?
Ben concludes: “But I’m still living my life (in other words, my life still has happy moments) complete with a 2-year-old grandchild who entertains. I am blessed.”
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
