Keep looking up. A story is told about a young boy who, on his first voyage out to sea, got dizzy and seasick. The captain noticed it and said to him, "Are you a good climber?" "Oh yes," the boy said proudly, "I have climbed the highest trees in our village." "Well, then," said the captain, "Get up to the mast." And the boy did.
But then, when he got to the top of the mast with the boat rolling from side to side, the young man got even more dizzy. He trembled and was afraid he would fall. The captain was watching his every movement from below and when he saw the boy's frightened and despairing face, he shouted, "Look upward… only upward."
The boy obeyed. He looked upward, and at once, his dizziness disappeared, and he was no longer afraid.
Keep going. When I did the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James), a 500-mile walk/pilgrimage in Spain, I asked a priest friend who had done it a couple of times for advice. "Keep going!" he said. Simple, practical, yet along with prayer, lots of protein, and some good cerveza – it helped me reach 33 days and three blisters later, the final destination: Santiago de Compostela, the burial site of St. James, one of the Apostles of Jesus.
Keep believing. A mature believer is described once as someone who – even when God seems far away, or life is in total disarray - just does what needs to be done, carries on, and keeps the faith.
Keep listening…. not to the despairing voice that says, "What's the point of all this? You've tried it so many times, in so many ways, and for so long, and yet, nothing has happened, nothing has worked.
Forget about trying. It's all the same. You are all the same - a failure," but rather to the voice that says, "Keep coming to Me, regardless of what you're feeling, regardless of what you've done, regardless of where you've been, just keep coming to Me, and not just once or twice or thrice, but again and again, always. Please do not think that I have given up on you, that I have forgotten you, and that I do not want you anymore. It's not true. I do love you. I do care for you. I do want you to be close to Me, to be with Me. Do not put yourself down. Do not reject yourself. Just come to Me and let Me fill your heart - again - with My peace, let Me heal you – again and again - with My forgiveness and mercy. Just put your heart close to my heart and hear Me say to you, "I love you! I love you! I love you!"
Keep rising. The resurrection of Jesus is not just about Jesus' rising from the dead, it is about our own rising as well – our own rising from the many mini crucifixions and many mini graves we find ourselves in.
Of special note, the long-awaited Holy Rosary Catholic Church is set to break ground (rise) on Sunday, May 12, at 10 a.m.! What an amazing Easter blessing for the Holy Rosary Community!
Lastly, keep remembering… that, yes, there is despair, evil, suffering, and death, but they do not have the final word—faith does, hope does, love does, and God does. A blessed Easter to one and all!
By Jonathan B. Molina, Pastor of Holy Rosary Catholic Church
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