DEACON TOM ANTHONY

Sunday, March 3, 2013

THE LORD IS IN OUR MIDST”
 

My Brothers in Christ,
 
When we face obstacles and adversity in our lives it is very easy to forget that Christ is with us. Our emotions get the best of us and anxiety takes over. There is a mixture of feelings that are all negative in nature. This is a natural reaction and a very human response. We feel alone and think that there is no one and nothing that can take away the pain. Even though our faith teaches us that Christ is with us always and is there to support our through our tribulation this knowledge is sometimes lost as our faith is tested. This happened to the Jewish people in the desert during the Exodus and there is an expectation that it will happen to us several times over the course of our physical lives. Nobody is exempt from this. It reflects our fallen nature and the separation it has caused with our God. Being sinners, we will tend to sin more during these trials and will be tempted to comfort ourselves with the allures of the physical world. Satan is at work here when we are at our weakest point.
 
Just like our physical body needs exercise to keep it healthy and the mind needs to be challenged to grow, so do our spiritual lives have to be worked and developed if it is going to grow. When we make that commitment to live our faith our relationship with God will become stronger and we will be more able to realize God's presence in our lives. As Children of God, we do need validation of His presence but to see that validation we must be prepared to witness it. It can easily be ignored if we are distracted or preoccupied with the physical world.
 
The Sacred Scriptures connect our physical need for food and water with the necessity of our spiritual lives to be nourished. The image comes forth in the form of Living Water. Not only did God provide the Jewish people with water and food in the desert but he also strengthened their faith with his presence. The water coming forth from the rock is representative of God feeding them spiritually also. They called out to him and he answered. He will always do the same to us. We can call out to him and he will answer. We are encouraged to ask the question: “Is the Lord in our midst or not?” It is a good question to reflect upon during our times of trial. Depending on where we are in our faith-life, the answer will be different and will represent how we are growing spiritually. If we are weak, we are then encouraged to cry out to him and he will respond.
 
When we suffer, we need to focus on the Crucifixion Through the Crucifixion Christ will form that spiritual bond with us. We cannot push him away and expect that we will survive alone in our time of pain. We have received the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and now have to learn how to use them. Suffering will not only bring us closer to Christ but will also bring our entire Christian Community together. When we understand our relationship with our savior we will be more able to understand that we should not just plead to Christ for our suffering to end but that we may endure through it for his greater glory and our personnel development.
 
Just as Christ sat with the Samaritan women in the Gospel Reading and offered her the Living Water he too is sitting with us to give us the same. We all can relate with the Samaritan Women: constantly sinning and awash in our own guilt. We know the way to redemption but still need to be encouraged to take the path before us and put into practice what we already know. We cannot just go through the motions. We need to turn everything over to Our Lord Jesus Christ. All divisions and strife will end when this is done. Christ makes all of the pieces come together.
 
The water is before us. He has offered it to us and now we must in turn drink what is offered.

Yours in Christ,

Deacon Tom



 

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