From the Hermitage
Dear Friends,
Here we are already at the so called "end of summer" as many of us hit the roads again. Here in Washington the AAA has predicted that some 840,000+ folks will be driving away from the city. Of course that statistic easily leads to cynical thoughts about nothing political happening in DC.
However, today as we recall Jesus' relative, John, the great evangelizer. We know much about his life. Much more than we know about many of his contemporaries. However, my thoughts today are about all the work that was required of this great first apostle of Evangelization. Think, if you will, about how much work was involved in all the traveling from place to place. Then there was the preparation of what to say to each of the different crowds that he encouraged. Just those two topics should stir up some admiration for the laborer that the evangelizer was.
As the days of this last of the summer's long weekends unfold, perhaps it might be to our spiritual advantage to spend just a few moments in prayer to the great baptizer. Sitting in traffic on one of the major highways might be eased with some discussion or prayer about John. We might consider how costly his faithfulness to his mission was.
Perhaps we might use his death and its pain as a reminder to pray for the Christians in Syria and other places that are undergoing the same death as did John.
Have a wonderful holiday.
Oremus pro invicem!
Fr. Milt
