
Pastoral Message from the January Beacon
01/01/2023
Dear Faithful and Friends of the Assumption,
“God’s love for the biggest sinner is greater that the love of the holiest man for God.” - Elder Arsenie Boca
As we enter into the new year, let us not only think of ways that we can be better physically and emotionally, but also spiritually. This is often the most difficult area of our lives because as we get closer to the Lord, he protects us from our own pride as to not negate our progress along the path; thus causing us to feel further away. This is the difficulty of growing in the Lord.
There is an old adage regarding a herd of gazelles being hunted by a lion, which says, “you don’t have to be faster than the lion, just faster than the slowest gazelle.” This relative reality does not define what it takes to win, but what it takes to not lose.
The best way for each of us to grow in our faith is to not look at ourselves relatively—in comparison to those around us—but objectively. If we understand this in the context of Elder Arsenie’s beautiful quote, we are to not compare ourselves to our brothers and sisters in our love toward the Lord, but to the Lord’s love towards us. In this way, we are much more likely to give more of our heart to the Lord and struggle less in following His divine will. We “run the race to be our best, not to beat others.” We strive to be our best, not better than our peers.
As we make out new year’s resolutions, let us each look into our hearts, always seeing ourselves clearly without the “noise” of relativity. Let us be as the Lord calls us to be.
Praying that the Lord bless each of us in 2023 with the fullness of heath, I remain,
In His Service,
Fr. Jon