COVID eases off, thank God, so things are looking up? Wait, now it’s war, inflation, gas prices etc.

We have little control over “what comes next” but we absolutely control how we look at and handle “what comes next.” Outward appearances push us to negativity and darkness but, in reality, it’s our choice. Yes, daily we have difficulties, that is life. This is not the eternal life we are promised. In fact, we are challenged to pick up our cross daily, and follow Christ our Savior. He has made us to rely on Him in times of comfort as well as times of overwhelming struggle.

Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor, in a wonderful book, “Man’s Search for Meaning” observes “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”

We, individually, get to choose how we live each day; specifically, we choose whether we live in fear or in hope. We, as the Ukrainian people, choose hope, the light and strength. We reject darkness and fear.

Isaiah 58: “Thus says the Lord: if you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech … then the light shall arise for you from the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday.” The Gospel emphasizes this wonderful assurance: “What came to be through Him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”

This Lenten season, as we examine how we are living our lives - where we need and commit to improvement, choose hope, choose to live your life each day in the light. Witness to hope and good for all in your daily life. We sustain ourselves and each other by trust in our God, by prayer and by perseverance in all circumstances. God answers us with constant help.

God give you and your loved ones His peace and all good.

Dan Miscavige

Weatherly