I don’t think anyone could have predicted the fall season of disasters and need that is the reality of our country and the world.

Hurricane Harvey
Hurricane Irma
Earthquake in Mexico
Hurricane Maria
Las Vegas shooting
Wildfires in Sonoma and Napa Counties

And we could add many others smaller but no less disruptive events for the communities we live in and are surrounded by. It is so very hard on the mental and spiritual life to be asked to continually respond to each event with the same fervor and compassion as the first.

When I first heard about the fires this past week I must admit it was with a shrug of the shoulders and a small prayer because the extent and the damage these fires would cause was just beginning. We’ve had fires before, even with the memories of the Oakland Hills fires, and most of the time, they are just an air quality issue, but this is certainly not the case. I had been with my family in Idaho for my brothers wedding when the fires began and my friend, Fr. Raul Lemus’ Facebook post was the first indication I had of the gravity followed by an email from a friend whose father’s house had been destroyed in Santa Rosa…then I began to pay attention.

And sadly, this is often the case in tragedies both small and large: when we know the people affected by the event we seem to be much more interested in how to help and the outcomes that are found. And this reality is very important to recognize and embrace and yet, we are always and everywhere called to reach out to the ends of the earth in prayer and service to help those in need. St. Paul in his letter to the Galatians reminds us that this act of charitable service is at the foundations of the very beginning of the Catholic faith, “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.” (Gal 2:10)

We will be asked once more to dig deeply in compassion and love to reach out to those whose lives have been disrupted and destroyed by the devastation of the fires. As a Catholic Christian community we see our brothers and sisters in need as neighbor and friend. This is the gift of prayer in and through Jesus Christ. As Bishop Robert Barron so beautifully writes, “It has been said that Christian prayer is listening intently as the Father and the Son speak about you. It is this peculiar intimacy—praying in God and not just to him—that give the Christian practice of prayer its unique texture.” (p 53, Barron)

It is in this prayer where we will discover the virtue of perseverance and fortitude where we find the strength to see the hopefulness not of a dream but of the reality of one family in Jesus Christ working towards the common good of unity and service. My own experience of loosing everything in a house fire as a child showed me the gift of community, family and faith as we were taken in to sleep, clothed with friendship and blessed with the shared gift of the necessary household items to unite our family once more in love. “(F)ortitude is necessary to endure unforeseen trials such as the death of those dear to us, the loss of a friend by separation or misunderstandings, the loss of possessions, sickness, poverty and hardships, all of which are likely to be met with at various times in life.” (p 218, Harrison)

We can despair that it is all too great to be dealt with but the gift of prayer united in the small offerings of love, our faith becomes the mountain of hope from which we are able to sing of new life and the wonders of blessings as we share of our generosity of love. God is even here in the fires, the earthquakes and the storms because this is where we, his holy people, choose to go to be united in the service of life, love and prayer.

God bless,
Fr. Mark

 

Quotes from,

“The Strngest Way: Walking the Christian Path” by Bishop Robert Barron

“The Everyday Catholic: A Guide to Steady Growth in Holiness” by Fr. Martin Harrison, O.P.