From Oblivion To Everlasting Remembrance
By Rev. Robert
J. Hermley. O.S.F.S.
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Simon was
having an awful day; everything went wrong.
It was always the same for him.
His job was not steady. His
clothes were ragged. He did not have
much of an education. No one really
cared for him, and everyone agreed that he would never amount to much. Who would ever care about him? Perhaps no one would ever remember him when
he had died.
A soldier going
by recognized the neer-do-well and called out, “Simon of Cyrene, get over here
and help this man carry the cross.” A
whiplash across his shoulder told Simon he had better obey; and Simon went from
oblivion to everlasting remembrance.
O Lord, how
often have I failed to recognize You in my brothers and sisters as they go to
their Calvary? How many times have I
failed to bind their wounds with a kind word?
How many times have I allowed their bodies to ache, their hearts to be
broken? How many times have I allowed
them to carry their crosses alone?
Help me in the
future, Lord, to lift up the weight of their cross and bear it together with
them for You. I have often felt the
pain of bearing my crosses alone; help me then, to understand their suffering
and offer my time and my assistance to them to lighten their burdens and
crosses as they journey through this valley of tears.
Help me, Lord,
that I may never complain about the weight of my own cross; please give me,
rather, the shoulders broad enough to bear it for love of You. Perhaps no one on earth will ever know or
remember that I did it, but I know Lord, that You will – because You promised,
“Whatever you do to the least of these You do it unto Me.”
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