“Great works arduously built are also easily torn down. But the destruction of a statue of George Washington, set aflame and pulled to the ground, does not redefine the man or the nation he helped found. The violence only perpetuates the very hatred the destroyers purport to condemn. Credit, rather, to the man who entered the arena, and who, defiant at the helm of an unsteady vessel, plunged through an ice-filled Delaware to forge a more perfect union founded upon an untried ideal. Only if he had failed to try would he have failed as a man. The ultimate success of our nation’s founders is entrusted to each new generation to safeguard and carry forward.
And as in the secular landscape, so in the eternal arena, success is not the final word. Christ Himself lost in the arena. He ended up on the Cross, his enemies gloating over his downfall and dividing up his garments. Apparent victory, the acceptance of the moment, is not what ultimately matters. The battle is not of this world, and the present arena is but the threshold to eternal reward.
Do not cower before the naysayers. Theirs is a limited influence. Do not let your life be defined by anything but your witness, the content of your character, and your reliance upon Almighty God. Your face may be bloodied, your life’s work in pieces, you may end up seemingly defeated, but yours may be the effort Our Lord needs most.”
From Credit to the Man by Elizabeth A. Michell, July 2, 2020
https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2020/07/02/credit-to-the-man/?
Thursday, July 02, 2020
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