Meeting the lions

Perhaps we face days which appear to be daunting and offer many challenges. The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today offer some direction and assurance that we will not go through tough times alone. The story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den presents the triumph of trust in the plan of God for our lives. Daniel was not devoured by the lions. God had a different mission for him. We would have a different meditation on this story if Daniel had been martyred by the lions. Our trust in God is not limited by our current finite human existence. Friar Jude Winkler comments on the sense of a community or family responsibility for sin which we have narrowed to an individual accounting. The punishment intended for Daniel was imposed on the family of those who had brought false witness. Dick Hauser, S.J of CreightonUniversity presents a Preacher’s Prayer "Lord, I know that nothing can happen to me today that You and I together can't handle" The Gospel from Luke is Jesus telling of the destruction of Jerusalem in a passage which also presents conditions associated with the end times. Our trust in God though cataclysmic events may be experienced in tragedies of war, hurricane, typhoon, earthquake and tornado. The gift of grace to find thanksgiving in our hearts for today, and through today in the United States, is part of the spiritual message of Father HenriNouwen as shared by Deacon Greg Kandra as another form of the preacher’s prayer.