“I have few illusions but I feel a responsibility to work towards the things I consider good and right. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to change certain things for the better, or not at all. Both outcomes are possible. There is only one thing I will not concede: that it might be meaningless to strive in a good cause.” -Václav Havel Czech Playwright and Dissident
When time tells the story of our life during challenging times, let it say that we persisted to strive for a good cause.
Beloved in Christ,
When the pages of time turn and the story of our lives is read, not in haste but in the gentle light of eternity, what will be said of us? Not of our comfort, our possessions, or our ease, but of the spirit with which we faced trial, the faith with which we endured, and the hope with which we labored for what is good.
We live in an age of many storms. The winds of confusion, division, and weariness blow strong across the landscape of the human heart. Yet it is precisely in such times that our calling as disciples and as a sacramental community becomes clearest. It is not the calm seas that prove the sailor’s faith, but the waves that threaten to undo him. And it is not the tranquil hours of life that reveal our devotion to Christ, but the moments of struggle when the temptation to surrender whispers at the door of the soul.
To “persist to strive for a good cause” is not a matter of stubborn pride, but of holy perseverance. It is the grace of staying faithful to the work of love, even when the world calls it futile. It is to keep sowing the seed, even when the harvest seems far off. It is to keep tending the flame, even when the night grows cold.
Christ Himself walked this path before us. His cause was not one of worldly triumph, but of redeeming love a cause so good that it demanded nothing less than the offering of His life. And so it is with every Christian vocation: to stand with Christ in the garden of endurance, to bear His cross in the labor of love, and to rise with Him into the dawn of renewal.
When time tells our story, may it not say that we escaped difficulty, but that we embraced it faithfully. May it not say that we were perfect, but that we were steadfast. May it not say that we built monuments to ourselves, but that we lifted others toward hope.
For in the end, what matters is not how long we lived or how loudly we spoke, but how deeply we loved and how faithfully we persisted for the sake of what is good, true, and holy.
So, my friends, let us renew our courage today. Let us keep striving for the good cause, to heal where there is hurt, to forgive where there is fracture, to build where there is ruin. Let our story, when time tells it, be the story of a people who would not surrender goodness to despair, nor truth to fear, nor love to indifference.
And may Christ, who endured to the end, be both our companion and our crown.
Love,
+Brian