THE BITTER COLD

 

Last week we were hit with a week -long, bitter January cold snap. We  hunkered down and stayed warm. We survived. 

 

The cold can be a lens through which we can interpret our spiritual lives. When it is cold you try to be resistant.

 

The cold wind that shake our soul is the present warfare going on in the world: in the Ukraine, in Gaza and the Sudan. In ware r parents see their children killed in the bombings, babas (grandmothers) in the Ukraine seeing their houses and apartments smashed to the grounds and families torn apart. War leaves deep wounds in the lives of individuals and families. War is very evil. Every rocket launched is a cold blast of hurt and pain.

 

We live with families torn apart by selfishness and sharp words. One family member hurts another and everyone shares in the woundedness. Grandparents cry themselves to sleep because one son will have nothing to do with the other son. No family can skate on the ice that exists in such a fractured relationship. The cold winds of division can be numb our lives.

 

We will receive the figures from our provincial health departments very shortly about the number of Canadians who have died of a drug overdose during 2023. The numbers are staggering. For every family member and friend that is connected with these deaths, there is a numbness, an emptiness about the loss of this productive life. This sadness is like a slow moving coldness moving into our lives. This is totally senseless and we do not know how to stop it.  These cold winds of the toxic drugs make us feel powerless.

 

One of the sources of the cold winter winds is the reality of indifference to the poor and the suffering in the world. Pope Francis laments the attitude of looking away, of the world being indifferent to the many suffering people in the world. The rich and the powerful in every society  are very slow to move to lift the poor from their poverty. The cold winds of winter blows in the hearts of the indifferent.

 

We need not go on. In the face of these bitter cold winds we try to survive.

 

When confronted with such evil and indifference, such brokenness and anger we turn to our God. Do not hesitate to ask God to move the hearts of evil people who make war or refuse to turn to the poor and suffering of this world. 

 

We ask God to give us the power of hope that we will turn from making war to  grow food for each other. We ask to turn toward the people at the bottom who are struggling to give their children an education and see them move out of poverty. We ask for healing for broken families and family members who have been hurt by the foolish and addictive life-styles of their loved ones.

 

The bitterly cold winds may blow today but we are praying for and living in the hope of a new springtime that only God can bring about. 

 

In this bitter cold there our prayers ask for the spring sunshine and rain.