Mark, Chapter 12, Verse 12
They were seeking to arrest
him, but they feared the crowd, for they
realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went
away.
It is natural to fear something you cannot control.
Christ could not be controlled by the men in charge of the Temple system; so
they feared Him and they feared the crowd that followed Him.
Christ’s message was good news to the crowd who were but pawns in the Jewish
Temple system of wealth and power.
We in times of trouble
should be like Tobit and seek to walk all the days of our lives in paths of
truth and righteousness. It was Tobit who defied those in power to do an act of
mercy by burying the dead. While his neighbors mocked him and saying to one
another: “He is still not afraid!
Once before he was hunted down for execution because of this very thing; yet
now that he has scarcely escaped, here he is again burying the dead!” (Tobit
2:8) Love makes sacrifices. He (Christ) laid down His life for us. We should
also lay down our live for our brothers. (1 John 3:16)
Most of us by the grace of
God are never confronted with such terrors of evil. Yet, we too in our quiet
lives can lay down ourselves in service to our brothers.
D-Day Memorial
The
men who took the beach at D-Day were afraid
because they too knew what may happen to them, yet too, they were succored by
our Lord and our nation’s prayers.
This
is the prayer originally entitled "Let Our Hearts Be Stout" written
by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as Allied troops were invading
German-occupied Europe during World War II. The prayer was read to the Nation
on radio on the evening of D-Day, June 6, 1944, while American, British and
Canadian troops were fighting to establish five beach heads on the coast of
Normandy in northern France.
The
previous night, June 5th, the President had also been on the radio to announce
that Allied troops had entered Rome. The spectacular news that Rome had been
liberated was quickly superseded by news of the gigantic D-Day invasion which
began at 6:30 a.m. on June 6th. By midnight, about 57,000 American and 75,000
British and Canadian soldiers had made it ashore, amid losses that included
2,500 killed and 8,500 wounded.
My Fellow Americans:
Last night, when I spoke with you
about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States
and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It
has come to pass with success thus far.
And so, in this poignant hour, I
ask you to join with me in prayer:
Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a
mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our
civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.
Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to
their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.
They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the
enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing
speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and
by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.
They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest -- until the
victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will
be shaken with the violences of war.
For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for
the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They
fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people.
They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.
Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy
heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.
And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and
brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them
-- help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in
this hour of great sacrifice.
Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of
special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that
our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new
day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips,
invoking Thy help to our efforts.
Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the
contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed
forces.
And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear
sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may
be.
And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons;
faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keeness of our
spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal
matters of but fleeting moment -- let not these deter us in our unconquerable
purpose.
With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy.
Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the
saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will
spell a sure peace -- a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men.
And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards
of their honest toil.
Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt -
June 6, 1944
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