Bishop

“‘I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.’” (Luke 4:44).

The Great Commission (He Qi)

I never really considered myself a good salesperson…

And yet, I think that I spend the majority of my time selling things.

What do I sell?  Well, I “sell” homework to my children, and eating healthily to them as well.  I “sell” teamwork to my staff so that we all work together.  I “sell” services to my clients, and perhaps – most importantly – I “sell” discipline to myself.

I have been thinking about that today.  You see, there is also a sort of “sale” that occurs with faith.  Saint Josemaria used to say, “God protect me from gloomy saints”, and I can sort of understand why…  Nobody wants to buy anything from anyone who is miserable about the thing – it is only common sense.  After all, if I am miserable about something then I really do not want to share that misery with others, and even if I did want to share it, they would not want to take it on…

How then, can I “sell” the experience of Catholicism to someone if I find it a miserable experience?  The Saints are remarkable for their joy – Heaven must be a place of such joy beyond imagining.  This is not to say that Saints walk around grinning from ear to ear – many suffered terrible things during their lives.  And yet, they experience a profound spiritual joy in knowing that their suffering was for a purpose – sanctification.

Perhaps the loneliest and most hopeless experience in the world is the experience of suffering that is without purpose.  And yet, Christ came to Earth JUST to suffer and die for our sins so that we could see the PURPOSE of suffering and also see that we are not alone in it!

There was a Bishop of Madrid, Leopoldo Eijo y Garay who died in 1963.  When he knew of a man who was dying who did not want to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation because his sins were so many it would need a bishop to forgive them (in the man’s own words), he immediately visited the hospital to “get to work”.  And while this might sound funny – to take those flippant words so literally – that visit allowed the soul to repent and prepare for life everlasting…

Christ understood this.  That is why He healed the sick and spoke to them – even exhausted as He must have been…  to prepare them for sanctification…

“When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them... And when it was day he departed and went into a lonely place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them; but he said to them, ‘I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.’” (Luke 4:38-44).

And that is the Purpose of my God.  So that must be my purpose too…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.