Chaplain's Message
Rev. Dino Salvador
Last
Updated on: January 20, 2004
Chaplain 'S Message
Greetings Brother Knights!!
As we begin a new year I came across a little something for us to reflect
upon.
It
is called 'Preciou~ and Hope'.
'When Moses came down from the mountain, almost every commandment he was
given was designed "to keep it
precious."
Thou shall not take the name of the Lord
thy God in vain - Keep it precious.
Remember the Sabbath - Keep this day
precious.
Honour your father and mother - Keep them
precious.
Thou shall not kill - Keep life precious.
Thou shall not commit adultery - Keep the
marriage vows precious.
Every commandment instructing us not to lie, cheat, or steal is really
about keeping truth, honor, and respect for God and one another precious.
One society is reeling with crimes of hatred, neglect, and violence
because we have failed to keep the holy things precious. The temples that
are our bodies, the kingdoms that are our minds, the altars that are our
hearts, the portals that are our mouths, the gates that are our eyes -
we have too often failed to keep them
precious. Instead we have undervalued and misused them.
When Jesus turned over the moneychangers' table, he was keeping God's
name precious. When he healed the little girl, he was keeping life
precious. When he lifted his cup and broke the bread and said, "Do this in
memory of me," he was keeping the memories of all the times they'd laughed
and cried and shared precious. And when he willingly spilled his blood
upon the ground, he was keeping it precious. All of it. All of us.
Amid all of life's joys and sorrows, hope is constant. A few of us may
try to live without faith or even love, but we cannot live without hope.
If there is nothing to move us forward into the future, we lose interest
in life itself. Specific expectations can be shattered, dreams can be
destroyed, plans can be smashed, but hope must remain. We must be able to
"hope against hope," or we will surely die-spiritually as well as
physically.
What makes life situations really difficult is the feeling that there is
no escape. But hope always finds a way. "For God all things are possible"
(Matthew 19:26), Jesus promised, and he was talking about hope.
Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their
strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31
When we hope, we return to the very core of our beginning - the place
where we are most at home - which is the state of "being with God." When
we are in this place, we are immersed in a "holy insecurity" - a total
reliance upon God that heals our self-doubt and distrust. By kneeling
before God in hope, we learn to pray not only for our own daily bread but
for the bread of all. We become instruments of the divine reality capable
of bridging the gap between the world as it is and the world as God wants
it to be.
Peace,
Father DINO SALVADOR, Chaplain
