By TIM LILLEY
JOURNEY OF FAITH
You’ll never guess what happened on Nov. 4 – the day after the 2020 General Election.
Nothing.
Well, actually stuff did happen. It always does; just nothing out of the ordinary. That day was pretty much the same as Nov. 3, or Oct. 27 or April 28, which is my birthday.
The sun rose; and on Nov. 4, it was greeted by a crystal-clear sky that its light shaded a gorgeous blue quickly. I got up, prayed the rosary, got ready for work and took my dog out for her morning “yard work.” Then, I drove to the Catholic Center.
We finished up the Nov. 6 issue of The Message, and design editor Sheila Barclay got the pages off to our printer. I began editing copy for the Nov. 13 issue, and the day unfolded as God intended.
The Yellowstone volcano did not erupt. The New Madrid fault stayed put; so did the San Andreas fault. No asteroid the size of Pike County struck earth – or even got close, as far as I know.
So … after all the months of vitriol; weeks and weeks of incessant, insipid sound bites and often-vicious political advertising; seemingly endless social-media posts that often got censored because the people running those platforms decided that they know far better than you and I what we need to see, hear and read … we went to the polls, voted and – life went on!
Can you imagine that?!
Has it occurred to you that our best bet is to follow life’s lead and just go on?
What a concept.
Forget polls, and forget the media. Instead, turn to Jesus’ final instructions before his ascension into heaven. Matthew reports it one way, Paul slightly differently:
“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” (Matthew 28:19-20).
“Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).
So, what was Jesus’ primary call – to make disciples of all nations or to proclaim the gospel to every creature?
I believe it was both. And I believe we are called to do the same – and that call might be most important now. Proclaiming the gospel – not only through words but also through our actions – and making disciples are the steps necessary, in my opinion, for our world to get back on track.
Disciples have no time for divisiveness, and the gospel has no room for untruth.
Let’s use this moment in time to refocus ourselves on the business of seeing Jesus in everyone we meet – and being Jesus to everyone we meet. And let’s let Him handle the rest. Pray it with me now:
Jesus, I surrender myself to you; take care of everything.