Transcript:
Greetings beloved in Christ. Today I greet you from Duxbury, Massachusetts, where I am on retreat with the Sisters of the Society of St. Margaret. I want to begin my video for you with these words from the Gospel of Matthew.
Jesus said, "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming I am the Messiah and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end has not yet come. Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginnings of the birth pangs. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all because of me. At that time, many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase in wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved."
In these days where it seems like nuclear war is being threatened, those words are powerful and I offer them to you. Because it makes our purpose and our work clear. Our work is to not let our love grow cold. Our work is to continue to heed the words of Christ and be the people who love one another, who love this world, who recognize that there is no gospel other than the one that the God of love has shown us in Jesus Christ. Our job is to continue to be reconcilers and peacemakers. Our job is to not let our love grow cold. These are frightening times, but we serve a resurrected Jesus, a Jesus who appeared to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus who appears to us every time we break bread. We serve a Jesus who recognizes that the real power in this world, the only power to transform this world is the power of persistent, insistent love.
In these hard times, I invite you to pray. Pray for our world. Pray for its leaders. Pray for us and our witness that we might be faithful even when things get hard. Blessings.