I Choose Christ

Jesus said to his disciples: "You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."

It started small, a puff air stirred the top of a mound of sand in the Sahara desert and it swirled up into the sky. The breeze did this again and again until a weather pattern formed over the Canary Islands.  The warmth of the ocean in that area was such that it formed a tropical depression and a storm was born, we called her Katrina. She grew in intensity and fury being powered by warm ocean currents and she was headed for the mainland of the United States. She formed a well-defined eyewall as the winds got even stronger. Ahead of her, she pushed the sea and soon she came ashore and the city of New Orleans would never be the same again. Thousands would be homeless, some would lose their lives.  There would be tragedy caused by humans, like the storm, running roughshod and looting stores for temporary gain.  There would be touching scenes of rescue where loved ones were reunited with each other and over time we would witness New Orleans rise again.  All of this started with a puff of wind and the lifting of a single grain of sand into the air.  Who would imagine?  

The turmoils of daily life, when compared to the destruction of the hurricane, seem mundane but are they?  A pair of socks left on the floor instead of in the hamper is a pretty small thing but like the puff of air that propels a bit of sand into the air that helps to create a hurricane, it can be the start of a storm that does much damage to a household.  Who would know that squeezing the toothpaste wrong, or forgetting to take out the dog, or neglecting a birthday or anniversary could cause so much turmoil?  How is it that the person you promised to love until death do you part be so cruel and mean as to forget to pick up a gallon of milk on the way home?  

In the birth of a hurricane, if you remove one factor, the hurricane is not born.  Oh, there will be a storm, it may rain a bit, there may thunder and lightning aplenty, but the fierce wind and storm surge will not form.  In daily life, it is the same thing. If you remove one factor, the storm will not form.  We Christians have to be the ones that calm the storms.  We have to see things as they really are. In other words, does it matter if you or your mate moves those dirty socks into the hamper?  It would be nice if they remembered to do so, but is it worth a fight?  It would be great if the toothpaste tube was squeezed from the top to the bottom, but what if it isn't?  Should this cause us to put on the boxing gloves and step into the ring? 

There are all sorts of things that happen to people in a relationship.  It is because they are people that they happen. We are not perfect but we are called to strive for perfection. As a Catholic Christian, we have to be ready to make the first move towards reconciliation.  We have to let the small concerns remain small and to tackle larger concerns with Christian charity.  

There will be storms in every relationship.  That is a guarantee.  How we handle them, how we choose to mitigate the circumstances will say a lot about our Christian way of thinking.  In the end, choose Christ and you will find peace.  Chose Christ and the small concerns will vanish like smoke and the larger ones will be solvable. Choose Christ over and over again as the circumstances present themselves and you will get ever stronger in faith, in love, and yes, in hope. 

Our brothers and sisters in Purgatory need our prayer. Don't forget about them.