May 2007

“ This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Psalm 118:24

 

I will occasionally hear someone say they are having “a bad hair day.” It sounds to me like they have written off the whole day!

I remember a game that people played trying to make various connections with others called “Where were you when . . . .the leader filled in a day, such as September 11, 2001, or November 22, 1963. Almost always the days named were days of horrific tragedy and pain. I wonder what would happen if the leader asked, “Where were you on April 2, 2007?" As far as I can tell, it was an ordinary day for most of us.

But as the Psalmist reminds us, every day is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. We are called to rejoice in every day and in each hour of each day. We really don't have the privilege of writing off a whole day just because something has interrupted the flow of what we had planned. A dead car battery can sure mess up a trip to the doctor's office, or to the golf course, or your shift as a volunteer. But the car will start again after the battery has been charged or a new battery has been installed. There is no need to buy a new car!

September 11, 2001, started off as a terrible day, but as the sun set on the dust of what was once the World Trade Center , with it also came the light of Christ through many stories of heroism. As the sun was setting that day on my former church, it began filling to over-flowing not only with parishioners but with people from the neighborhood. I remember speaking with a man and his wife who lived in the neighborhood. They were very friendly but had said in previous conversations that they “just don't do church.” I asked them why they came to church that night. Quietly they said in unrehearsed unison, “because we didn't want to be alone tonight.” They gave a bad day a chance to be a better day for them.

We cannot live in the past or even try and live in the future. Remorse over the past or anxiety about the future robs us of the hope for each new day. All we have is today, and it is the day that the Lord has made. Live in it. Pray unceasingly during the tough moments of the day and in thanksgiving for the good moments. Allow all of your senses to taste each moment with Christ. “Weeping may spend the night but joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:6)

There are one thousand four hundred and forty minutes in each day. Enjoy each and every one of them with the risen Christ!

 

 

Fr. Ken †