The price at the gas station went up from yesterday to today by more than 20 cents on the gallon. Considering that Russia only supplies us with 672,000 barrels a day of crude and refined oil products out of a total of about 10.8 million barrels daily. Russia is the third largest oil producer, to be sure, but it seems that oil prices reflect more of the market uncertainty than the actual supply of oil.
As a Nation, we had to make sacrifices in World War 2 when we faced not one, but two global powers out to destroy us. We read it as history, not experience. We’ve become complacent. This is a war not just in a distant country but for democracy and freedom, and not just in Europe. We are threatened as well.
The threat we face is giving into hate and fear. We must not become the things we say we hate. Remembering that Lent is a season of darkness, we must not just hold onto hope but to work that our hope will be realized.
Prayer for the Day
We know we are fearful, O God, for we see so much evil,
And the forces of darkness seem to be overwhelming us;
We know we are afraid, O Lord, for we cannot see beyond today,
And we know not what tomorrow will bring in our lives.
Grant, most merciful One, that we may feel your embrace
And rest beneath the shelter of your wings.
In the name of the One who shelters us,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Lent comes providentially to reawaken us, to shake us from our lethargy.
- Pope Francis
Nothing great is ever achieved without enduring much.
- Catherine of Siena, mystic and writer (1347-1380)
Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to you.
Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call
For my days pass away like smoke, and by body burns as a furnace.
My heart is stricken and withered like grass; I am too wasted to eat my bread.
Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my skin.
I am like and owl of the wilderness, like a little owl of waste places
I lie awake; I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.
Psalm 102: 1-7