My Brother Danny

With quiet remorse, I remembered my classmate - Danny a devout Catholic. We were fellow house-officer at a district hospital in 1978. I got to know his wife and baby during that one year at work. 

A few days before I left Melbourne for good in 1978, they invited my mother and me to their house for dinner. As he dropped us home that evening, in deep appreciation of our friendship in medical school and work, he said,

"We'll see one another again...we're all in God's family..."

In my peevishness, I did not know what to say! It was not that I did not appreciate him as a good friend; it was because I had not understood the grace of God enough to accept that He could and would save even Catholics and that it was up to Him to correct their theology where it was necessary. On reflection of that experience, I knew, then, that He loved me enough to have saved me and that He would correct my theology too, when necessary.

Lord, I repent of my prejudices and judgemental attitudes; I repent of my smallness of heart. Thank you for Your forgiveness and for helping me understand a bit better what it means to be reconciled with You through Your death and resurrection for us. Nothing that we do will ever be enough to please You completely. That was why You had to give Your life for us freely for we could never repay or earn Your friendship. Once You have saved us, nothing can change our relationship with You again, even if we go astray in our new life in You. Such is the permanency of Your grace. Please grant me that same grace towards others, dear Lord, for I know that pleases You. In recognising more and more of my own sinful tendencies and accepting my real self, I am gradually growing to accept others as You have allowed them to be, and to see the potential for change in them.

Great is Your love and faithfulness that will never let us go! 

For Meditation and Prayer:
2 Timothy 2:13