Today, we hear an excerpt from Paul’s first letter to the Church
at Thessalonica. Paul was worried that
this community he founded had turned its back on him and had started to abandon
the faith. He sent Timothy to this
community to check on them and to report back to him. In this part of the letter that we hear
today, Paul offers the Thessalonians encouragement, telling them that he is
praying for them day and night, that he longs to see them in person once again.
We, too, need
encouragement in our journey of faith.
Sometimes the road can be very rocky.
Sometimes it seems like we are just trying to make it from one day to
the next. Just as Paul prayed for the
Thessalonians, there are many people praying for us as well. And we have the prayers of the Blessed Virgin
Mary and the community of saints uniting their prayers with ours along this
journey of faith.
I remember one of
the prisoners I minister to told me that he had a bad nightmare that
really terrified him one night. He woke
up very panicked, but then he looked down at his hand and he saw a glow-in-the
dark rosary that I had given him glowing in the midst of the dark night. It gave him encouragement and he saw it as a
reassurance of faith.
There can be
little signs we get along the way that can help us and that can give us encouragement. No matter what, we need to rest assured that
we are never alone, that we have others that are helping us along our
journey.
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