Here we are at the end of January 2021 and not much has changed. A new president has been put in place and executive orders signed - business as usual. January is always a month of change - anyone who pays attention to history realizes this. What is - new - one year is the same - new - as in previous years. New presidents always cancel what previous presidents declared new - only to be reversed in future years. What is new is old and what was once old becomes new again. That happens with many of us. New Years resolutions made with vigor die a slow death very often in the first thirty days. It is called the cycle of life. None of us is perfect - a reality that we are called to accept. It has been almost a year since we first learned about the Covid virus - a virus raging around the world like a giant fire. Coping with the pandemic along with all the other issues is like fighting multiple fires - fires that attack from all sides - damaging our lives - relationships - our total well being.
In a few short weeks we will once again celebrate Ash Wednesday and Lent. In that time we will reflect on our lives - what is good - what is not so good. We will fast - pray - make sacrificial offerings - in an attempt to make retribution for the things that we have done wrong. In the time of Lent - in our prayers - we will beg God to send down the Fire of His Holy Spirit - to burn out the sins in our lives - to purify us - to make us whole - clean. As we do our work - on our lives - we use God's Holy Fire to destroy the fire that has fueled all the negativity that has been destroying our lives - the world. Just as firefighters use fire to control out of control fires - so we beg God that His Holy Fire do the same in our lives. Fighting fire with fire - God's way. Praying that when the smoke clears - we will see a better us - a better world..
Deacon Dale
