Lifelong friend. She (like many) is having difficulty dealing with "now." She was adopted from South Korea, as a toddler. Her husband is White; her five grandkids with White mothers. The increasing hatred of Whites in USA is troubling, and it's affecting her too. Thank you.
Prayers. Lord grant her peace, grant us all peace, so that like the tree that's planted by the waterside, we shall not be moved from love. I suspect that the unrest and upheaval that the USA is facing now is only a foretaste for what the rest of us can expect. People with no jobs and no money, no future will be totally loose cannons. They will be looking for someone, anyone to blame.
Scary times, especially for those in large US cities. My NY son has been uncharacteristically calling me multiple times a day. His personal life, his work, and his city have unraveled before his eyes. All of his friends have left the city. He is very resourceful, and I hope this serves him well as he will actually need to drastically change course, and reinvent himself or he'll go ' down with the ship'. Life changing events will either make you or break you. I hope that the warnings that God has placed before us will wake up those who have been asleep.
I was listening to a young millenial on the radio there now. Because of the lock down she had saved quite a large amount of money because she could not go out dining, or socialising, or spending lots of money on the usual things. So she has booked an expensive ski holiday during which she expects to splurge out all her savings. I think many people expect life to go back to usual after all this. I feel so sorry for her and people like her. The world she used to know has come to a complete end. Most people do not understand this yet. God has pressed the pause button on the video. The purpose in all this is that minds and hearts should turn to God, not expensive ski holidays. Even on a human level, she should be saving, not spending.
Even at work I see this imprudence. People keep saying, 'When this is over, when this is over'. No one ever seems to think, 'This may all never be over'.
Today I "broke quarantine" to do some quick shopping at our nearby grocery store. Tension. Like I haven't felt in YEARS here (I moved here in 1992). All employees are Hispanic, with exception of one Black man. All were formerly chatty, greeting customers as they come in, making eye contact. Silence. Avoiding eye contact (with each other, with customers). Tension. Especially sad as this area had become a lot friendlier and easy-going in the past 15 years. The 1990s were AWFUL. My husband (born/raised nearby) couldn't explain it. So I'll continue with prayer and devotionals.
I suppose it's a bit like the Spiritual Life. Or a marriage even. At the start at the honeymoon, just after conversion , everything is wonderful. Then the Bills start coming in , the arguments start and eventually crisis in the marriage, Spiritual Aridity, the Dark Night. What makes things a thousand times worse is a sense of Entitlement. I am entitled to be happy, I am entitled to Spiritual Nourishment, and when what we think we are entitled to does not appear then there is fear, anger, unrest. In the Spiritual Life what brings Peace and Strength is the Knowledge that God owes us nothing whatsoever, that it is we who owe God everything. The Wisdom of the Cross takes over and Entitlement is lost. So too in the Secular life. I think the Christian by their very nature should be able to take up the load. They know God walks with them. But for the Godless....well...anger, rage, bitterness.....
Very true. Only after coming to Catholicism did all the pieces (finally!) come together for me. A sudden spiritual maturity. Every loose end tied up with an explanation or an insight. Everything "clicked." So yes, I feel badly for those still struggling or who are outside Grace.
Tension. Silence. The adjective which has surprised me is fear. Friends who I've thought to be calm and reasonable are very fearful...fearful of covid-19 and now many are fearful of rioters, etc... We must live now what is printed on our coins, "In God we trust." If not, we will allow the government to do most anything for the sake of security. What price are we willing to pay for normalcy? This is becoming the incessant temptation from JoeJerk. We are heading deeper into the Chastisement where only the Two Hearts will be our peace and security. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
Sorry, Padraig, I responded to DS7 before reading your posts. You and I are sensing the same thing. Trusting in God is more difficult than we think. Isaiah 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD! Our situation brings to mind the Abandonment Novena: Day 6 You are sleepless; you want to judge everything, direct everything and see to everything and you surrender to human strength, or worse—to men themselves, trusting in their intervention—this is what hinders My words and My views. Oh, how much I wish from you this surrender, to help you; and how I suffer when I see you so agitated! Satan tries to do exactly this: to agitate you and to remove you from My protection and to throw you into the jaws of human initiative. So, trust only in Me, rest in Me, surrender to Me in everything. O Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything! (10 times)
