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[Jesus
said:] "Beware of people, for they will hand you over to courts and
scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors
and kings
for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. When they
hand you
over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to
say. You
will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not
be you
who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through
you. Brother will
hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will
rise up
against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by
all
because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved."
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"It’s been
the longest winter without you. I didn’t
know where to turn to. Somehow I can’t
forget you after all we’ve been through. Thought I
couldn’t live without you. It’s gonna hurt when it
heals too. It’ll all get better in time, and even though I
really love you, I’m
gonna smile 'cause I deserve to. It’ll
all get better in time. Since there’s no more you and me,
it’s time I let you go so I can be free, and live my life
how it should
be."
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Jesus spoke
to his Apostles as they set out
to become his missionaries, telling them to prepare the cities to
receive him when
he came to preach. He warns them that there will be pain, and as the
evangelist Matthew had discovered by the time he wrote his Gospel late
in the first century, there was indeed
pain--people were hurt, families were torn apart. Speaking Jesus' name
could mean dissension and even death. But Jesus counsels his Apostles
to "endure," knowing that things will be better in time, and there will
even be eternal salvation in the end.
Jesus' words are not only good for the spiritual life, but they are good for day-to-day living as well. In her song "Better in Time," Leona Lewis sings of a lady who is in pain, but she is mature enough to know that she must "endure," or as she says, she's going to smile and live her life as it should be. She knows that all she has to do is to allow time to do some healing, and then things will be better. Jesus' words and Leona Lewis' song speak one of the most important facts for young love and indeed for a mature life. When there is pain--and there will be pain in this imperfect world that we live in--we can get through it because it will all get better in time. Time heals. It may not feel like it at the moment of hurt because it feels as though life will disintegrate and it would be better not even to be alive. But, once we get through the first couple of days, or a week or two, life will begin to take on a different vision. Things really do get better in time, and if we manage to endure the moment, our lives will be able to function again, and we will be able to live life, as Leona Lewis sings, the way "it should be." |
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THOUGHT
What is the best way to
help someone who is going through immense mental pain?
PRAYER Good
and gracious
God, there is pain in our lives because our world is not a perfect
world. We hurt ourselves, we hurt others, things happen that we wish
would be otherwise. Your Son counsels us to endure because life will be
better in time. Give us the grace to follow his advice. Be with
us,
we pray.
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©2007
Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |