Feeling beaten down?

Christians and other people who take faith and revelation seriously may sometimes feel “beaten down.”

Human life (at its beginning and at its end) and the sanctity of marriage are being assaulted on more and more fronts.

Those who uphold the perennial truths of revelation and of natural law are vilified and even prosecuted as hatemongers.

We are besieged incessantly by images and fables of hedonism under the guises of entertainment, marketing, and even “news.”

Modern opinion-makers are advancing their efforts to marginalize the free exercise of religion (guaranteed by the Constitution) in the name of the “separation of Church and state” (which is not in the Constitution).

Today’s first reading (Isaiah 35:1-10) gives special words of comfort to all faithful people who may feel beaten down.

Strengthen the hands that are feeble,
make firm the knees that are weak,
Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
With divine recompense
he comes to save you.

We must continually ask our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for his grace:

• to strengthen our hands to do his will even when it is difficult and the effort prolonged;
• to make firm our knees – to embolden us - that we continue to stand up for what is right and to move forward on the path he marks out for us;
• and to give us courage by the power of his truth and his Spirit.
  

From time to time (and sometimes for a long time), things may not seem to go well, but God is always with his faithful people and in the end God will make all things right.

He will come and bring us total vindication, infinite rewards, and eternal salvation.