Mission in the Cloud. Last night after I got “home from work” around 6:30, the missionary normally in the back of the church at this time of year, and the other missionary, went for a long walk. We prayed the rosary and Memorare for our mission souls on our list this week, a decade for each. And then we reflected on the next day’s gospel reading, Matthew’s version of the two betrayals. One of the betrayers, Peter, never lost his focus on the Lord, even in his sin, and came back to be reconciled, and eventually to lead the Church. The other, Judas, absorbed in his own sense of pride, perhaps rationalizing his sin, leaves and never comes back. John’s version of the story, last night’s walk, kept ringing in my ears. “He left at once. It was night.”
There’s a Judas in all of us, and there is a Peter. We need to always be missionaries, on the streets of SoHo, at home with family, in the Cloud. We need the right friends who will always pick us up, and drag us back to God when we fall into the darkness. And as Apostles, as missionaries, we need, always, always, always, to be stay to the Lord, to trust Him, and to ask Him for the grace and courage to dash out into the night to bring our Judas home.
Daily Challenge: Contact someone who is alone and/or "shut in", ask for a prayer intention, and have a chat with them. Be present. It can be an official parish shut in if you can get a name from your pastor, or it can be a family member or friend in your life that you don't usually call; maybe even someone you avoid.
