Donald Trump, have mercy on us and on the whole world!

As we celebrate the Memorial of Andrew Kim and Companions of Korea, the thought struck me about how to win the hearts of the world to the cause of our country in this battle against the oppressive evil that exists in North Korea right now.  In case this happens to get to our President, let me be clear about what I think the message should be for him to share with the leader of the people of North Korea.  In the title of this post, I mean no blasphemy or even disrespect to the fountain of mercy, who is Jesus.

I am saying that in the lives of Saint Andrew Kim and the martyrs of Korea, the message of Divine Mercy and grace should be delivered to the leaders of North Korea, in order to help facilitate their conversion.  How amazing would it be, if our President, Donald Trump, would continue to deliver the message that there would be justice if they attack us or our allies, but more importantly if they turn back from this course of action, there will be mercy.  As a Christian nation, if our President would let the leaders of the world know, that if they align themselves with the altruistic nature of our democracy, they will receive mercy for all their sins of the past.  We must be willing to ask for forgiveness for our sins, as well, but we can save that message for a later post.  For now, we need to find a way to deliver Jesus’ message of Divine Mercy to the whole world, and I think God has offered us this day and this moment right now to do it.  By the way, if President Trump or anyone who reads this wonders about the validity of this message of Divine Mercy, they can ask Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California, Father Michael Gaitley, MIC who has written at least 7 books that I know of on the subject, or even lowly me, who happens to have read those books.  I am sure they or I would be willing to give them a crash course in it, before it is too late.  Eternal Father, I offer you the body and blood, soul and divinity of your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and for those of the whole world.  Amen!

Why didn’t Jesus minister by himself?

I was reading an article about going to the volunteer well, to see what I was missing when looking for good volunteers to help with youth ministry.  (Here is the article) As I finished the article, I realized that the premise that the author ended with was missing something.  He said that Jesus didn’t minister by himself because it wasn’t the right way to minister and his choosing of the apostles proves that.  However, it was the fact that he was not going to be there forever, that required him to deputize his apostles to take over his ministry.  He spent the time with them to show them how to preach and minister to the people, so when he left, they were ready to take over.  Of course, Jesus would send the Holy Spirit to be with them to empower them to fulfill their calling, but he was leaving the spreading of the Gospel to them.

 Those of us who are involved in youth ministry should look at our jobs the same way.  If we are planning on a long career, we should be looking for people that can fill our shoes when it is time for us to follow the Holy Spirit, where he is leading us.  Jesus knew that his time would come, and we know that ours will as well, albeit probably not in the same way that Jesus did.  However, we must be willing to fulfill our calling in ministry by at least following in the footsteps of Jesus, when it comes to identifying our successors.  Just a thought I had today, so I figured that I should share it.