To the point ... because I have just lost what I was about to post because of an electrical failure!!!!!
This first reading is somewhat complicated because there are several people who confront some of the pain of life's ways. Tobit and Sarah: they want God to take them from this life because it is not what they wanted or expected.
What you can get from the selection are these issues. Old age and the challenges it offers when old age moves on into many years and health is not the best through the later years. Another reality is suicide which seems to be much more prevalent among younger men.
Our challenge is helping people is these categories: seeing the pains of old age as not worth the effort or a thought that many future years are not worth it if the current status is an example of what lies ahead. We can help those individuals who see no hope by taking time to reassure them of the love and care of others who wish to walk the journey of life with them. Likewise we should make every effort to lead them to an understanding of their sufferings are united with Jesus and that he, who himself suffered so much, will always be present to us. Words do sound easy but if there is the support and example of friends and care givers, life can take on a different style, a new way of understanding.
It might be worth looking in Google to learn about the life of today's saint, St Boniface. He was a man who continued in a long life and even at the age of his late seventies, he set forth with a group of supporters into the Netherlands to bring the gospel of Jesus there. And in 755, along with his colleagues, he was murdered because of his efforts to evangelize the people in one of the Netherland areas. His life, as historians note, is a model for us in matters of politics, the Church and religion. Historians consider his legacy stronger and more important for the nations of what is now Germany and England.
First installment of a summer reading list appears below.
First installment of a summer reading list appears below.
