Except for our soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines, not many of us will face the specter of armed battle. Yet our lives are filled with ethical battles and personal conflicts all the time. Sometimes those are internal conflicts, but they hurt anyway. In the battles along my life paths, all the potential that once bloomed seems to have been blown to smithereens. And I feel, as Jonathan and the Israelites did, too malnourished either to fight or flee.

But I know that when I exert the energy to step aside under the tree where Christ died, my soul is fed and I can continue with brightened eyes to do his  work for others.

Today, then, I will pray for all our troops in harm's way that God may keep them safe and strong. And I will pray for all people everywhere to be sources of peace--beginning with myself.

Be at peace with yourself, and heaven and earth will be at peace with you.

--Isaac the Syrian

PRAY for the Diocese of Nicaragua (Central America)

Ps 140, 142 * 141, 143:1-11(12);  Acts 9:1-9; Luke 23:26-31

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