The Crown of Victory

The entrance antiphon for today’s liturgy reads:  This is the one who was not deserted by God on the day of struggle and now wears a crown of victory for faithfulness to the Lord’s commands, alleluia. Obviously this One is Jesus Himself but also all of those who have gone before us and were faithful to what God asked of each of them on their journey of faith.  I think of my own mother and father, both of whom were faithful to what they believed God was asking of them as individuals, as husband and wife and as parents.  Yesterday Pope Francis I canonized two popes: Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul  II, both of whom also were faithful to what they believed God asked of them  as priests, bishops and popes.

What is God asking of you, of me, on our daily walks with Him, in our interpersonal relationships,  in our ministries (careers), as Christians, in our particular vocation in life, be that marriage, religious life, priesthood, or the single life?  How do you and I become the best version of ourselves physically, spiritually, emotionally, interpersonally, as a family or community member,  in our parish and civic communities, as a responsible citizen of the U.S.?  In all of these dimensions of our lives and in all of our struggles God does not desert us.

Let us remember in prayer today the 16 people, our brothers and sisters in Christ,  killed in the tornadoes that ripped through Arkansas last night and all of those families who lost absolutely everything.