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Rod Dreher's avatar

I just spent an hour on the phone with my friend. I believe he's going to be okay. He has a good heart, and a searching one. It has been bruised and battered by his mother's untimely passing. Don't let up praying for him, though! I told him that I believe God is going to do something good in his life, soon. I didn't just say that; I was praying silently as we talked, and I felt it strongly in my heart.

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Rod Dreher's avatar

My Spanish friend texted just now to say that he went to the abandoned Catholic church in his tiny village tonight to pray; he got the key from a family that has custody of it. I swear, I nearly cried to read this text, and am crying now as I'm writing this. God has visited me today, on a day that should be very sad, given, you know, with so many blessings -- among which are all these joyful comments from y'all. I tried to explain to my suffering Spanish friend that the Lord calls to us amid our grief, and calls us out of ourselves. I told him that I could sit here pitying myself, but what I've learned is that this is death. We are meant to live. And living requires reaching out to those who hurt. Frederica Mathewes-Green tried to teach me that when I was in my twenties, but I was unable to learn it (read: unwilling). I told my Spanish friend that I would never, ever have chosen to go through the things I've been through, and do go through, but I can see the hand of God in them all, purifying me. Given the kind of sinner I am, He has a lot more work to do, but glory to Him, He is doing it. I urged my Spanish friend to read Dante's Purgatorio, and notice how the suffering but repentant sinners help each other with their struggles up the mountain. This is what the church is like, at its best.

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