Feeling down today

 I think I read too much news today.  And more importantly, I think I'm just very aware that I live in a time on the verge of war.

It's sad because it's completely unnecessary.  But I guess I don't think like others do.

We have more than everything we need, we just don't have the answer to capitalism, which has gone far and away to drive the absolutely insane choices in the last 5 years. 

I know despair is not the answer, nor do I think everything is at an end, but I do think that it's hard not to feel powerless in the midst of great political upheaval and change.

And I guess I never thought I would be living in the middle of something like that.  I always felt like Canada was one of the safest, most boring places in the world.  I still sometimes feel that way (from a statistical perspective and a societal top-level look).

But it's hard.  It's really hard to be an adult, and it's hard to know now, the truth of how things work.

In times like these, I do look to prayer, and to meditation.  I'm reminded of the prayer of St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offence, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Lord, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in forgiving that one is forgiven,
it is in dying that one awakens to eternal life.  

I'm still contemplating deeply what it means to be alive in this time, and maybe I'll write more later.

Jesus in the Desert

 Today was a very good homily on Jesus and the temptations in the desert.  Often I find priests do a bad job of this scripture, and kind of waffle, but I really appreciate the homily today because it spoke to the very difficult truth of how hard it was being in the desert. How the devil appeared right when Jesus was weak and had the option to consider what could be possible if he backed down from his beliefs and values.

 As the world of money and Christianity continues to evolve into something strange and unpleasant, I'm reminded this Lent that there are people that are not trying to take over the world, or destroy, but there are people that exist who are building, and trying to continue to build, even in the eye of great temptation.

Gospel, Luke 4:1-13

¹ Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert,

² for forty days being put to the test by the devil. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry.

³ Then the devil said to him, 'If you are Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf.'

⁴ But Jesus replied, 'Scripture says: Human beings live not on bread alone.'

⁵ Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world

⁶ and said to him, 'I will give you all this power and their splendour, for it has been handed over to me, for me to give it to anyone I choose.

⁷ Do homage, then, to me, and it shall all be yours.'

⁸ But Jesus answered him, 'Scripture says: You must do homage to the Lord your God, him alone you must serve.'

⁹ Then he led him to Jerusalem and set him on the parapet of the Temple. 'If you are Son of God,' he said to him, 'throw yourself down from here,

¹⁰ for scripture says: He has given his angels orders about you, to guard you, and again:

¹¹ They will carry you in their arms in case you trip over a stone.'

¹² But Jesus answered him, 'Scripture says: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'

¹³ Having exhausted every way of putting him to the test, the devil left him, until the opportune moment.

Just Making a Note of It - Trade

 I didn't think this would be another year of fascinating world events, but here we are.

I don't have lots of thoughts to post online today, but I'm hopeful for the future.  I'm just sad because a lot of people are going to be hurt because of some really, really bad decisions. 

I wish I had more to say, but internally, I'm just throwing up my hands in the air every 20 minutes.