“‘I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.’” (Luke 4:44).
I was thinking about the souls that require conversion. There are those who are already Catholic – but as I used to be – completely oblivious to the requirements of God. There are those who are Christian and who do not understand what they are missing through their practice of faith. There are those who believe in different gods and those who believe in none at all. There are souls who are trying to improve – are constantly failing. And there are souls who give up before they even start because the task seems too difficult.
And it occurred to me that there are as many souls to pray for in this as there are drops of water in the ocean. And the task seemed very huge and tiring.
I recently heard a story about the Bishop of Madrid, Leopoldo Eijo y Garay, who died in 1963. Once when this bishop was told there was a dying person in hospital who was refusing the Sacrament of Reconciliation by demanding to confess to a bishop (insisting that his sins were too many), the Bishop jumped straight into a car and got himself directly to the hospital. Walking into the dying man’s room, the bishop said, “Let’s get down to business. Where do we start?”
And I have been thinking of this story as I have been reflecting on the magnitude of this task in praying for the conversion of souls. And I have found myself struck by a description of Christ’s actions in the Gospel… “When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid his hands on every one of them and healed them... And when it was day He departed and went into a lonely place. And the people sought Him and came to Him, and would have kept Him from leaving them; but He said to them, ‘I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.’” (Luke 4:38-44).
And I was thinking about that too. You see, even when Christ – God made Man – was alive, the task ahead of Him was huge. I mean, not only was He here on Earth to SAVE all souls, He was also here on Earth to save the people who He saw every day – and they lined up to see Him by the hundreds. And each one of those hundreds of people needed His TIME and His ENERGY and His EFFORTS and His LOVE…
And when He had finished reaching out to help those there is Capernaum, then – when they offered Him rest and to stay there for the rest of His life – then, He said, “‘I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.’” (Luke 4:44).
And today, as I pray for conversions and all the billions and billions of souls who need prayers, it occurs to me that I too was sent for this purpose.
And so, as I pray today, I pray for the courage to START… For there is great work yet to be done…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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