2020-03-08 – 2nd Sunday LENT
__
Genesis 12:1-4a ________ Psalm ____ 2
Timothy 1:8b-10 __ +Matthew 17:1-9__
Title: Guarded, God-Focused, Gospel Proclaiming
[_01_] I have been blessed to travel a few times
between 2009 and 2014 to Port-au-Prince and Haiti with Seton Hall University
college students to help out 2 orphanages/clinics. One is run by a Catholic
foundation in Richmond (Virginia). The other is run by Mother Teresa’s sisters.
And, of course, like all travelers, we had to – even back then – take precautions about handwashing and hand-sanitizing. And, we were trained further “in country” by Mother Teresa’s sisters.
And, of course, like all travelers, we had to – even back then – take precautions about handwashing and hand-sanitizing. And, we were trained further “in country” by Mother Teresa’s sisters.
Now, while Mother Teresa’s clinic /
orphanage and refuge for adults appeared to be a lot less modern than a U.S.
hospital, it was carefully __ GUARDED …
It
was ___ GOD-FOCUSED …
And
it was __GOSPEL-PROCLAIMING.
[_02_] I know it’s hard to imagine life before the
coronavirus, but I suggest this is a time for us to be "3-G" .... i.e., to be "“guarded” and on guard
in practical ways and also to be “God-focused” and “Gospel proclaiming”
[_03_] First, what does it mean to be “guarded”? It means to take practical steps. You and I
can take practical steps – steps we’ve already taken – and taken before during
flu season to wash our hands, to avoid large gatherings to stay home from
church when we do not feel well. And here at Lourdes, we’ve been following
these steps for those who distribute Holy Communion and will continue to do so.
So, yes, we guard ourselves and our
families in practical ways.
In Haiti, in these orphanage-clinical
settings the students and leaders had to be careful. If someone was not feeling
well, that person stayed behind and did not go out to the orphanage that day or
any day.
Be guarded…
[_04_] I made 5 trips to Haiti, between 2009 and
2014. By the 5th time, I knew what do, right?
And yet… on the 2nd to last day,
of my last / 2014 trip, I caught something, stomach flu, food poisoning. I
don’t know what, but it was a bad case of a tummy ache. This is a family
program. You get the idea.
Was I “guarded”? No and Yes. “No” I was not guarded because I caught something,
but Yes I was guarded because – on my 2nd to last day … at 3:00 am
in the morning, I summoned the courage, wisdom, whatever it was to have someone
take me to the emergency room. I was
“guarded” enough to overcome my fear of the hospital at that point and got the
help I needed and to ask someone for help.
[_05_] By the time I got to the E.R., I had lost a
lot of fluid and was partially dehydrated. I was not totally dehydrated,
because a living person is always somewhat “hydrated”. I got an I.V.
intravenous for fluids and recovered in about 24 hours.
But what brought on my greater and
uncomfortable symptoms was not the original “tummy ache” but my lack of
hydration.
[_06_] Right now, one of the coronavirus dangers –
for you and for me – is that we will become partially or fully dehydrated not
from the virus but from fear, anxiety, stress.
C.S. Lewis wrote that what God want us
to be concerned about is what we can and will do, during a crisis, during any
crisis.
The evil spirit, the devil, on the
other hand, wants us to focus on what will happen to us (C.S.
Lewis, The Screwtape Letters,
New York: Harper Collins, 1996, Ch. 6, p. 25) In other words, evil
spirit wants us to focus on our fears.
However, fear becomes much easier to
comprehend and to to exercise some self-control when we understand what we can
and will do, rather than focusing on the fear itself.
Or as F.D.R., President Roosevelt
famously said: “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
[_07_] So,
yes, be guarded but also be God-focused.
Or, as the I heard from this recent sermon said, “God is bigger than the
coronavirus.” (see above).
Pray for both international and
national leaders, for physicians, nurses, heath care workers, EMS,
firefighters, police and first responders.
Pray for the people of our country and
also for the people of hard hit countries: China, Japan, Korea, Iran, Italy.
Pray for the World Health Organization
+ Centers for Disease Control and for our V.P. and his team in the U.S.
[_08_] We read in the 4th chapter of
Paul’s letter to the Philippians, how we are to pray:
“Have no anxiety at all, but in
everything, but prayer and petition, with thanksgiving make your requests known
to God.” (Philippians 4:6)
So, yes, be “God-focused” prayerfully
and also “guarded” practically.
[_09__] At this time, we are also called to be
“Gospel-proclaimers”
The clinic run by Mother Teresa’s
sisters had many poor, impoverished children and also adults who needed to be
taken in.
I learned, however, something about
“proclaiming the Gospel” not just based on what these
Missionaries-of-Charity-Sisters did when they were “open” and working.
And, when they were “open”, there was
always a new 911 emergency case.
I learned by how the “closed” … during the week, they were open from morning
until night except for one day, only for a little while in the morning, then
they closed the gate so that the could withdraw for prayer and also for service
to those already inside.
There was this interview with Mother
Teresa herself in which she was asked “how long do you and your sisters pray
and how does relate to your service work?”
Mother Teresa: “Normally we pray one
hour a day, but when we are very busy, we pray TWO hours a day…”
In order for us to be Gospel-focused,
we also need at times to withdraw, for silence and to recall that God is in
charge, perhaps, also to increase our prayer time.
We may need to turn off the news …to
fast from the news once in a while, to withdraw.
As Saint Paul writes to the Philippians
as well:
”whatever is
true, whatever is…. Honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, think
about these things, keep on doing what you have learned and heard and received
and seen in me. Then the God of peace
will be with you.” (Philippians
4:8-9)
Yes, be guarded, be Gospel-proclaimers,
and also be God-focused. And, the God of
peace will be with us. [_fin__]
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