MH - Our Assignment As Part of Holy Week

Hadleyblogger Mike emails with some comments that we all can take to heart:

You know I think about faith, and I'm struck by something . . . We should be [praying for Michael Schiavo]. The hardest part about being a Christian is in praying for him. I'm sure you'll find a better way of linking this to the Holy Week, so I'll leave that up to you.

Actually, Mike puts it pretty well. If left entirely to me, I'd probably make a shambles of what needs to be said, but fortunately Our Lord left us with the words:

"You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. [Matthew 5:43-48]

Most of you are already probably doing this. It's something that I've always had trouble with, and maybe this Holy Week gives me an opportunity to work harder on it. If Michael is the evil man that many have portrayed him as, we must, as Christians, pray for his conversion. If he is not, however - if he sincerely thinks he's doing the right thing - all the more reason to pray for this misguided man, that the truth of God comes to him, a truth that can never contradict itself. After all, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. And we must also pray for those who wish the pro-life movement malice, who (as Peggy Noonan put it earlier today) are in love with death. While death is not to be feared, neither should it be embrased as an alternative to life.

The tragedy of this whole situation is that so many lives are being hurt by it. Our hope is in the knowledge that God can bring good from any situation. Let us finally pray for the grace and the wisdom to accept the good that He will reveal from this.