Fear Not, Little Ones

I had a memory this morning.  I think God gave this memory back to me today to give me courage.  It was a very stormy summer day and a huge thunderstorm with high winds and lightning and thunder was bearing down on our neighborhood.  The tornado sirens were blaring, adding to the fear and anxiety racing through my mind as a young mom trying figure out how to protect  all my very small children as we were running for the basement door.  But not all the children were running for the basement.  

As I turned to look back at the kitchen door, I saw my very young, five year old son, Thomas pushing against the door with all his might trying to keep the wind from blowing it open.  He was protecting us.  Trying to keep us safe.  And only when he couldn't hold it any longer did he cry out, "Help! Somebody help me keep the door closed!"  And in ran my husband who locked the door and scooped Thomas up and brought him to the basement with all of us.  That small, stalwart little body will always be in my heart.  

I think God had me remember that today as I have been reading too much about all the awful things happening in our world and especially in my Church.  Sexual scandals, family life being battered by the crazy times we live in, education going down the drain and being used to politicize rather than to liberate minds, pride, envy, willful ignorance all having their way with us!

Trying to blow open the Church and leave it in ruins.  But we cannot run!  Running is not an option.

We need to get up and push very hard against that door no matter how hard it is being battered. We are weak, scared, hesitant before danger, afraid of being alone and maligned.    But we must hold on and on.  

Young people need to be brave.  They need to face the challenges of living a Catholic married life in a world that is ready to scoff and scold and say they will never make it.  They need to have a lot of kids, they need to love each other so sacrificially that the world will stop to wonder.  We older moms and dads need to pray for them and help them bar the door!  No matter how dire the predictions are of the decay of family life, we must live it anyway.  
Young priests, in the face of all the scandal and criticism they have inherited from their elders, must be brave and true.  They must proclaim God's truth with charity, but they must proclaim it at the risk of being blown over by the nay sayers and unbelievers, by the doubters and haters.  They must bear the heavy  burden of scandal laid on them by some of their elders and prove it wrong by their brave and holy lives. 
All of us, weak as five year olds against the massive storm heading our way, must push against the door with all our might.  Sure we are frightened and hesitant and so many other things. But we have a Father in Heaven.  We yell help, he will come and whisk us away to safety.  And being the beautiful Father He is, He will thank us most profusely for trying to protect his house.