Removing Stumbling Blocks

In one of his letters, St. Boniface writes, “In her voyage across the ocean of this world, the Church is like a great ship being pounded by the waves of life’s different stresses. Our duty is not to abandon ship but to keep her on her course.” At the time of St. Boniface, the missionaries in Germany had a difficult time evangelizing because the pagans were worshipping an oak tree. When St. Boniface arrived, he saw that the tree was in the way, so he cut it down. He got rid of the obstacle that prevented the people from getting closer to God and knowing the Truth.

We are told in the Psalms that those who love the law of God will have no stumbling blocks but will rather have great peace. But some may say, well that’s not true. Some devout Christians have difficult lives. True but difficulties are not necessarily stumbling blocks. If we come to see our difficulties as crosses and means of deepening our faith and growing closer to God, then there are no stumbling blocks but only a faith knowing that God is with us even in the midst of storms.

What are the obstacles in our lives that keep us from receiving that great peace?  May we offer them up and ask the Lord to give us the grace to see them as means to draw closer to Him, and like St. Boniface, let’s ask the Lord to give us the strength to chop down the trees that block the light of truth from shining through.



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