Fr. Don's Daily Reflection
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
Nearly everyone today seems to run marathons or knows others who do. We're used to seeing on TV the contestants breaking the tape, exhausted, but happy. Some such practices are ancient. The Letter to the Hebrews compares the struggles our faith requires to the perseverance required in a race. “Let us lay aside every encumbrance of sin which clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies ahead” (12:1-2). Jesus has run his race and been crowned with victory. By his perseverance -- we know from the agony in the garden that he was frightened of what was to come -- he “inspires and perfects our faith” (Hebrews 12:2-3).
The words are important. Jesus not only modeled constancy in faith amid suffering; He also is actually able to give us the same strength. The writer of Hebrews seems to be thinking of yet another type of athletic competition, possibly wrestling, when he says: “In your fight against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood” (12:4).
Yet again, if only as spectators at wrestling, we know how we clench our fists and tighten our stomachs as we agonize with someone engaged in a tough match. We wonder how they keep at it in the few minutes they are there, minutes that must seem like hours. The picture taken from wrestling encourages us to stay with it, not to give up on Christian life. The struggles we have usually last for what is really a short time though it seems so long. Only the experience of persisting with Jesus alongside of us and in us can teach us the reality of his power and presence.
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!”
