THANKSGIVING

THANKSGIVING

In the pantheon of prayers there a many sub-divisions something like the Hallmark Card racks.

Something for every occasion and person.  But the smallest selection of prayers is Thanksgiving prayers.  Not for the holiday but for all of life.  Twenty-six years ago our family didn’t know what was coming next but we knew where we had been and so we composed a prayer for Thanksgiving Day that we felt encompassed all that we wanted to say.  I share it with you today and hope your family gets a blessing out of it.

LEMELIN FAMILY

THANKSGIVING PRAYER

Most generous and gracious Father,

we come today in humble thanksgiving.

We ask nothing from you because we

know that, without our asking, you

provide all that we need to live and be happy

in this world.  On this special day

of Thanksgiving we express our gratitude

for all our blessings.  In particular

We thank you for our very lives,

for the love we have known,

for the strength to endure pain and grief,

for the freedoms we enjoy,

for the glories of nature,

for the warmth of our family,

for the good that is in people,

for the challenges of every day life,

for the capability of the human mind to improve life,

for our faith, which guides us through all of our experiences,

and most especially, Lord, we thank you for your

continuing love and presence in our lives. Amen

Carol Lemelin

1990

MISTAKES

MISTAKES

Made any big mistakes lately?  If you can say no to that, you probably have been in bed with the covers over your head.  We all make mistakes. That’s a given. Sometimes there is a quick recovery and other times there is no recovery possible. Quick recoveries often include apologies and/or rapid effort to stem the harm caused.  A lot of times we would just like to pretend it never happened, that we didn’t say the things we said, but that never works.  Usually we have to just go forward and take the heat.

St. Paul was an enthusiastic persecutor of the early Christians.  He regarded them all as heretics and blasphemers.  His reputation for violent reaction was well known.  Then one day, on his way to Damascus to round up these criminals, he was thrown from his horse by a bolt of lightening which blinded him.  Imagine!  This proudly arrogant man, so sure of himself, was suddenly helpless.  As he stumbled around in confusion a voice said; “Saul, why do you persecute me?”  This was his introduction to Christ.  After he recovered his sight and was instructed by others, he reverted to his Roman name, Paul, a name more familiar to Gentiles, and began to preach the Good News.

Was everyone happy about this?  Would you be?  If ever there were a time for skepticism, this would be it.  Everyone was convinced that this was a new ploy of Paul to worm his way into the trust of the People of the Way, only to turn on them and have them killed.  It was Barnabas who believed in Paul’s conversion and encouraged the others to give him a chance. 

Paul took the heat and moved forward.  God used all that ego, arrogance and energy to further the gospel.  Who better to show the power of Christ than a man who had been his archenemy?  Paul did a complete turn-around, baffling everyone. 

All the events surrounding Paul’s astounding change of heart reveal plainly the hand of God.  Trusted people suddenly came to Paul’s defense; disciples heard God speak to them on Paul’s behalf.  As you read the conversion story in Acts: 9:1-30, it’s quite obvious that God is in charge.

Most of our mistakes don’t get reversed with quite the same drama, but if we understand that, like with Paul, God can and will use whatever we do for his own ends, we will begin to put our trust in Him to use our mistakes as he sees fit.  That’s not to say that apologies, amends, humiliation and shame will not be required but it’s the end result that counts and with God’s help, we will recover and resolve to do better.

With total confidence in God, Paul went on to travel far and wide and preach.  He endured enormous resentment, opposition, violence and imprisonment with the same rugged stubbornness as always.  God knows who we are and cares for us. Trust in Him.

Blessings,

Carol Lemelin OPA

Finding the Truth

FINDING THE TRUTH

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph. 3:14-19)

As St. Paul prayed for the Ephesians, so must we pray for each other.  The only way the message of Christ, which is the will of God, can be spread throughout the world is for believers like ourselves to search for the ultimate truths about God which we can then share with others.  We must reach back past the institutional church, past the laws, the customs, the traditions and seek, as Paul says, the breadth, length, height and depth of Christ. 

When the authorities confronted Jesus, he knew everything they knew. They tried to trip him up but he was not fooled.  He questioned their motives and warned them, that if they maintained their attitudes of self-justification and self-righteousness, they were heading for disaster, but they ignored him. They crucified him instead and in 72AD Rome came down on them and destroyed their temple and their city. 

It wasn’t that God had punished them; it was something they brought on themselves by refusing to live their lives according to Scripture.  They built a power base of laws by which they ruled the people. They used Scripture and tradition as their rationale for lording it over the people, but in reality they ignored Scripture except when it suited them. 

St. Paul is always cautioning the early Christians to avoid complacency, rather, to grow in faith and understanding through the Holy Spirit. He encourages them to know Christ. He tells them to be brave, to speak out as he has done because God is with them and will give them the words and the strength to proclaim them.  It’s as true today as it was then.  Except for some particulars, we are no different than the early Christians and we can invite God to dwell within us so that we, too, will be grounded in the love of God through Jesus Christ.

We would do well to remember to pray for those in this world who must speak out even though they are at risk if they do..  Like Paul, we should kneel before God and ask him to strengthen these disciples with the power of the Spirit.

Blessings,

Carol Lemelin OPA