Trying to fight the good fight

Prayer for the Day

Father, I thank You for rescuing me from the falls I take in the course of my life, just as You rescued Peter and Paul from their denials or persecution of You.  Keep reminding me that You are there. Help me fight the good fight in Your Son’s name.  Amen.

Reflection

It’s that time of year again, when we celebrate the solemnity of the great apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, so it is a good time for all of us to reflect on our own faith.

Faith is a gift.

Most of us become aware only gradually of this gift. In our youth we might worship and pray with our family as a custom, as part of our culture. Our relationship with God can grow as we mature and open our hearts to His presence. For some people, this choice to open themselves to God never happens. For many of us, we wax and wane at times, letting other things take priority in our lives. Months and years can go by without our relationship with Christ growing.

I rarely think of St. Paul without remembering several “Road to Damascus” events in my own life.  The most powerful story is the same one I wrote about in my very first post of this blog:

When I was a teenager, and questioning the existence of God (as I am sure most teenagers do), I had dreams of falling from great heights. Just before hitting the ground and certain death, I would wake up in a cold sweat from the nightmare I imagined death would be. The same dream came often and I was spending a lot of time worrying about death. The last time I ever had the dream, I started the fall. An angel appeared next to me and asked why I was afraid. I told the angel I was afraid to die. My angel said “Recite the Our Father with me.” We prayed the Our Father together. I remember thinking that I wouldn’t have time to finish before hitting the ground. But for some reason I had plenty of time. Just as I said “Amen” my angel lifted me up and we began to soar. Then I woke up and instead of being afraid, I was sad the dream had to end! It was such a revelation. Now, two score later, I truly believe that God was letting me know that he is alive and well and waiting for me—I just have to remember to “keep the faith”.

Within the gift of faith are many smaller “gifts”—like “enlightenment”.  I frequently toggle between my Microsoft Word program and the readings for the next day’s Mass as I’m preparing these blog entries.  I just checked the previous paragraph for spelling and grammatical errors and it occurs to me that  a couple of verses from Psalm 34 (the Psalm said at Mass today) fit in nicely; ”I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.” And the Responsorial Psalm is “The angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him.”  These two verses reminded me again of just how much my Lord loves me and watches over me.

We can see, in the Letters that St. Paul wrote, that once he was converted, he was constant in his enthusiasm for Christ. He said honestly that "I have kept the faith." We know that this was not without huge costs to St. Paul; he was beaten, jailed and shipwrecked during his missionary work. Throughout it all, he did not waver.

Can we say with St. Paul, "I have fought the fight, I have kept the faith"? (2 Tm 4:6-8, 17-18)