In the eye of the storm
by Fred Schaeffer, SFO

Life can be so overwhelming. You grow up, no longer a young adult, but married with a child on the way. Finances barely adequate, living really from day to day. Or, as the case may be here in our town, many are financially strapped due to hurricane damage that is more extensive than the insurance is willing to reimburse, and also many have no insurance at all. It is then that we feel all sides pushing in. We feel trapped, outwitted, and we don't know how to make ends meet.

The pressure, the stress, we feel at such a moment is very much like being in the eye of a storm. I have been there many times during my life. Many years ago, when I was still working for an international airline company in New York, after my mother had passed away, I looked at my credit card accounts and realized that I was financially in a very deep hole. Considering debt level and assets, one could say that I was stone broke, except that the job I had paid at least the rent. But I was kidding myself - I was knee-deep in deficit financing.

Of course when you look at the National Debt of the United States then you begin to realize that the country is going the same way, deeper and deeper into the hole, into the eye of the storm. I think politicians have forgotten that there are more generations to come after them who will then have to deal with this huge problem of spending what we do not have.

I've done the same thing but on a much lesser scale of course. I've lived, what one might call the 'good life,' without regard to common sense. The credit card is a powerful instrument - I have learned to use it wisely. But can I say that today, in 2004?  Well, maybe we better leave that question unanswered.

What I have done in these various stormy situations, I have trusted in God and left my burden at the foot of the Cross, His Cross. I have offered it in prayer, and then I've put it out of my mind. I realize that's hard to do when your mortgage or the rent is due.

Please consider the following lines of Scripture: "Now this is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say, "We have fellowship with him," while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin. If we say, "We are without sin," we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing. "We have not sinned," we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." [1 John 1:5-10]

Getting into debt intentionally is walking in darkness. If we make bad financial decisions then we are not doing so intentionally, and so we are walking in the light. Everything being normal, we still talk to our friends and often invoke their assistance. That's what friends are for. Friends help each other where possible. Friends do not think of themselves first. In John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life." God will not let us perish, not in any way, as long as we walk in the light. So once we realize that we're in the eye of the storm, so to speak, we give our cares to the Lord, and then ask our friends to help us a little. And with that, we relax because we know in Faith that it will all be taken care of.

St. Francis of Assisi did more good for the lepers in his days than did anyone else. He washed and bathed them and provided for them. Not unlike Mother Teresa who did the same to the poor in Calcutta, India. But the conditions there were different from the time of St. Francis when there probably were few, if any, hospitals around. That deep hole we are in, for one reason or another, makes us feel somewhat like lepers or very poor and neglected people - we feel hopeless. St. Francis, who was extremely poor himself, after his father parted ways with him, out of the goodness in his heart, a gift of God to Francis, still managed to provide for the sick, lepers and the poorest of the poor because Francis held in his heart the love of Christ for all of us.

Francis had deep Faith in God, an unshakable faith and love for Jesus and Mary. If we, as 21st Century people, learn to forgive our neighbor out of love for God, then surely we can forgive ourselves for a little mistake that lands us in desperation only because we see the deep hole rather than the Light of the World: Jesus our Lord, as He comes to us again, this Christmas. This transition from desperation to being at peace can only come about if we forgive those who have in some way trespassed against us. That's the theme in the Lord's prayer - so the notion of forgiving others comes from Jesus Himself. Once we learn to forgive others for making unreasonable demands on us or for various misdeeds that we cannot reconcile ourselves with, then the next task is for us to be able to forgive ourselves. So we've made a mistake. Mistakes, no matter what the consequences, are forgivable, but many times people stay mired in the eye of their storm because they blame themselves for creating the turmoil in their lives. No, that's wrong! Put your cares at the foot of the Cross, and as Jesus command us to do... Do not worry. Leave the worrying to Him. He will take care of it.

My financial digressions of the seventies were resolved and not even too painfully. In hind side, even though I owed far more than I had, I did not worry about it, and in two years my checkbook was in the black again and I was out of debt. I wouldn't want to tempt faith again in that way. If you love the Lord with all your heart and soul, you'd be a great deal more careful before digging such a hole again. Knowing many people who are in trouble in one way or another (from prayer requests I get through this website) I pray for them and I hope they pray for themselves as well.

Some people in this world tell others that they cannot pray. Thus they invoke the services of those who are willing to pray for their intentions, a priest, brothers, sister, or a prayer line of some sort. Here we come to realize that God is trying to steer them into the direction of prayer when these folks seek out others to pray for them. But what is forgotten is that prayer is very easy. Everyone knows how to pray. If you know how to seek prayer on your behalf by others, then you know how to pray. Just ask Jesus and Mary to help you overcome the difficulty you're in. The simplest and probably most effective prayer on earth is "Jesus help me." So talk to Jesus and tell him what is in your heart. Everything. Hold nothing back, and then end by saying, "I'm sorry that I messed things up so bad." Many people blame God for their misfortunes. No, God is not to blame. We are - that's the nature of original sin. We are inexplicably drawn to sin, to the flesh, but those who are strong will live in the Light of God and reject all that is evil. I pray that you will find this Light, and follow it daily. The Star of Bethlehem comes to mind... Advent is a good season to come even closer to Jesus. He is my Lord and my All. I hope you feel about Him as I do. Peace and Good!



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