Above All

April 3, 2008

Thursday of the Second Week of Easter

We must obey God rather than men. Acts 5:29(b)

He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy. For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit. John 3: 32-34

Piety

Prayer of Obedience

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road through I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

-- Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/040308.shtml

Didn’t we get this lesson just last week? (See Impossible Not to Speak from Saturday March 29.) I guess this is one of those messages that the church fathers think we need to hear again and again.

Just yesterday, we learned that Virginia Governor Tim Kaine has suspended the use of the death penalty in the Commonwealth. Although largely a symbolic move because the Supreme Court is deciding the legality of lethal injection, the move does have Gov. Kaine finally supporting his personal ideals rather than the law of the state.

Of course he did not cancel the sentence for the upcoming prisoners. He just delayed those decisions until sometime after the Supreme Court’s decision will come down in the early summer.

Sometimes, we all act like the Governor, rationing our obedience to God’s word – choosing from column A or column B. How unlike God we behave because the Lord never rations His grace for us.

Action

Now is the time to contact the Governor – who has not hesitated to use the death penalty – and encourage him to keep the moratorium no matter what the Supreme Court decides is its final position.