Dan Wilson’s Blog Entry

For those of you who don’t know Dan, he is married to Dave’s sister Mary Lou.

Each day we are faced with a test of our Faith. From the moment we wake up, we have opportunities every second to either keep that Faith or not. This is what our Lord and Savior has in store for us, the choice to go to Him or not.

We pray His prayer,

“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, THY WILL BE DONE on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we for those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, amen.”

Note the highlighted words, “THY WILL BE DONE!” In Dave’s case this is our Faith, anticipating God’s will. It is the accepting of His will that is our problem. From the moment we wake up each morning we are confronted with that decision of accepting his will for ourselves. Accepting what He has in store for his servant David, is forefront in our minds today as we all struggle with this situation. All of us are praying for a speedy recovery and that Dave comes back to us better than he was when he went into the hospital on Thanksgiving Day.

We just started the season of Advent in the Catholic Church. Advent is the 4 weeks before Christmas and it is a season that we prepare the way of the Lord. Prepare for the coming of our Lord and Savior in the form of a human being, born in a manger in Bethlehem. All of the chorals, the festivities, the decorations, the manger scenes, all of this reminds us of this blessed event. This is the coming of Jesus, the coming of our Savior; the coming of what we believe will be our salvation.

In preparation for the RCIA class that I help teach at St. Joseph’s, the parish Mary and I belong, there is a second meaning in Advent that is very appropriate to us with respect to Dave and all of us for that matter. That second meaning is the Second Coming of our Lord. Jesus told his disciples that he would come again, but we would not know the time for the coming. In Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 24, verse 36 it is written, “As for the exact day or hour, no one knows it, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but the Father only.” Then in verses 40 - 42 it says, “ Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal; one will be taken and one will be left. Stay awake, therefore! You cannot know the day your Lord is coming.”

That second coming might be tomorrow, or next year or the day any of us pass away. On the day we pass away we will meet the Lord spiritually and if we have pleased him with our life here on earth, then He says we will have His reward, eternal life with Him.

I asked the RCIA class how many shopping days until Christmas on December 4^th, and they all said 21, actually it was 20, but who’s nit picking. I suppose if you really had to get that last item on Christmas morning, you might find a 7 – 11 open or something, but I digress, back to the point.

The question was then changed to how days until the second coming of our Lord. There was silence in the room, for no one knows. So I asked what about our own personal “second coming”, how many days until then? Actually it is a trick question, because as it says in the Gospel passage quoted above, no one knows that time or date but the Father, we all have to plan that TOMORROW could be the second coming for any of us. We do not know when the Lord will call any of us back to him, and that applies to Dave as well. So the question for us is, “Are you ready?”

If it be the Lord’s will that Dave come back to us completely healthy, fantastic, if he comes back to us with in any other condition, great, but if it is God’s will that this is the time for David to come back home to Him, then we are charged with the task of acceptance. I for one find it very hard to accept anything less than coming back completely whole, but at the same time my Faith tells me that I am not in charge. All we can do is pray that the Lord will be merciful and give Dave his health once again. If it were anything else, then we all have a burden to bear. I ask all of you to pray and pray fervently for his recovery. Also pray for his family in that the Lord will grant them strength and courage in this time of crisis. We all can surely use all of those prayers. God Bless you all for your efforts and Merry Christmas!