We Are Being Watched

First reading	Hebrews 12:1-4 ©

We should keep running steadily in the race we have started

With so many witnesses in a great cloud on every side of us, we too, then, should throw off everything that hinders us, especially the sin that clings so easily and keep running steadily in the race we have started. Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which was still in the future, he endured the cross, disregarding the shamefulness of it, and from now on has taken his place at the right of God’s throne. Think of the way he stood such opposition from sinners and then you will not give up for want of courage. In the fight against sin, you have not yet had to keep fighting to the point of death.

Can you feel it?  We are being watched.  Everything we do is seen and we cannot do anything in secret.  Where can we run to?  If we run to the ends of the earth, our place of hiding is in plain sight.  If we tell the mountains, "Cover us!" there too, we are seen. These witnesses to what we do and what we say are not evil but are the Saints of God, the ones that stand before Him who loves us so very much and they do not await our fall but rather cheer for our victory.  Chief among these witnesses is Jesus Christ who sits at the right hand of the Father. It is He and these witnesses who help us stay the course and do what we must do proclaim the kingdom of God in our very bodies even as the martyrs did so long ago and who do so today.  We might not be called to a bloody martyrdom but was are certainly called to offer ourselves up to the Kingdom by following our Lord's example and turning down the offer of peace from a world that only knows the peace of death and has forgotten the peace that surpasses all understanding.  

The saints of God cheer you on as you daily choose to build yourself up in goodness and as you run the race to the prize that we all desire, happiness with our God and the saints in glory!  Young warrior, be brave with a stout heart and run the race with all your might and depend on God the Father to refresh you, God the Son to sustain you, and God the Holy Spirit to inspire you, and the whole company of saints who stand before God to cheer you on.