The Key is Willingness

 Today’s reading was about having the willingness to open the door to a Power greater than myself, to allow myself to have a higher point of view, to set my pride aside so that I may be more available, to take off my mask and be seen. To be open and available to a Higher Wisdom.

My heart, though, is heavy with the unjust war in Ukraine; the land-grab playing out not on any battlefield, but in homes and schoolyards. The families fleeing for their lives with only what they can carry. The sadness, the shock palpable in the pictures and videos we see. The prayers, spoken and unspoken, to a God who now needs to be seen in the kindness of the helpers, the receivers, the feeders, the shelterers, of all who have the compassion to be available and the willingness to take action.

St. Francis reminds us all, in his famous plea and reminder:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace - Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy.  O Divine master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console - To be understood, as to understand. To be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive - And it’s in pardoning that we are pardoned - And it’s in dying that we are born… To eternal life.

Amen