Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all.
I spoke to my sister, Patti, recently. She has her own opinions and I respect that. I, nonetheless, do not always agree with her. I love her, but don’t see things the same way. We see the fireworks in the picture above but come out of the viewing having different opinions. One would say how pretty, and another would say that it is noisy and the fireworks scare my dog or cat. Both can be true at the same time. The truth lies in the combination of our opinions. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. United we stand and divided we fall.
The fact that both things can be true at the same time could be the reasons we can not communicate with each other. Most people want to please God, but we still disagree and put people we don’t agree with in boxes in our mind. We close the door on those people. A good portion of the world’s communication problems could be solved by finding the common ground that both sides agree upon and then try to resolve the differences. We have one faith, one Baptism and one God over all.
Now why is there discord and fighting instead of unity and peace?
I am not talking about politics which is another story, but nations, businesses, marriages and neighbors have discord. If we look at the things we have in common and the desire for all humans to get to Heaven then we need to all agree that we have these things in common because there is one faith, one Baptism, and one God.
My ex-brother-in-law is a member of AA (Alcoholics Anonymous ) . He has been sober for 15 years and is proud of his accomplishments. He doesn’t go to church but will go to his AA meetings. His community is AA. He achieved sobriety by himself with the help of his AA community. We all need others.
The Devil wants to divide us. God wants to unite us. Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20 said we are to Baptize the world in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In addition, He said I will be with you till the end of the age. Jesus wants our unity to depend on Him. Go, therefore,and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.* And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
We need people to reach Heaven. Nevertheless, we need people who share the commitment to a relationship with Jesus Christ. We need others to encourage us, but we need Jesus to direct us and comfort us. He also wants us to comfort other people. Sometimes Jesus comforts us through the blessing of our church members. We have a duty to support them and anyone Jesus puts in front of us to help them on their spiritual journey to Heaven. We know that Jesus is with us. He sometimes comes Himself but sometimes He comes through others. We don’t have to like them to love them as Jesus loves them. Even the most disgusting soul is loved by God.
We don’t have to agree with them or be like them, but God put them here on Earth at the same time and place as us. We are there for them and they are here for us. In addition, Jesus is here for all of us. I try to be quiet and pray before or after Mass to let Jesus direct me. I try to listen to His wants for me and I listen to the wants of others that He puts before me.
**** A special prayer of thanks to God for the successful cancer surgery of Pope Leo. ****
God Love You Always
Bob Burford
PS: Please Pray for Cancer victims and their caregivers. Pray for those in Hospice. Pray for the conversion of Russia and the salvation of the Ukrainian and Russian people and their soldiers. Pray for the Holy Land. The impossible could and can happen. (Saint Rita) Never deny God! Pray for justice for all victims of human trafficking and immigrants! Pray for justice for our President and all government officials! Pray for Peace!
