Today’s Reflection from Father Dave

My mom did needlepoint and now you know the full extent of my knowledge on this subject. I was remembering one of her works and was amazed that when viewed from one perspective you did not see neat organized stitching, but knots, threads that seem to have no direction, and even chaos. Turn it over, there is a masterpiece. (It’s my mom’s work so what else could it be?)

It seems we are caught in a time looking at the backside of the tapestry and it makes no sense to us. I for one have never bought into the idea that all of this is God’s plan. Some would say we had wandered and this is a wake-up call for us, but I have a difficult time with this vision of God’s relationship with us. We are in the season of Lent, a time of self-sacrifice and denial, in a small way walking with the Lord throughout these 40 days. This season means nothing if we do not believe in the message that comes at the end, the message we are called to live out each and every day; that God so loved the world, He sent His only Son to redeem it. This is who we are, a people that has been redeemed, the fulfillment of God’s dream.

Yes, these are difficult, challenging, and lonely times in our Lenten journey. Maybe this year, more than any other year we will come to understand just what Easter means. We will turn over the tapestry and see the beautiful masterpiece we have become. We will have the same vision of one another that God has of us.

Thanks to Thorton Wilder’s book, The Eighth Day, as he compares life to a beautiful tapestry and to my mom for teaching me all I know about needlepoint.

We continue to be part of this wonderful tapestry in Faith, Hope, and Love.
Fr. Dave