April 6, 2017
Editor’s Note: This is a reflection on the first reading at daily Mass on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.
It takes courage to stand for love, it takes courage to stand against the forces that power arrays against love. That courage is reflected in the prayer of the men faced with the fiery furnace in the book of Daniel:
If our God, whom we serve,
can save us from the white-hot furnace
and from your hands, O king, may he save us!
But even if he will not, know, O king,
that we will not serve your god
or worship the golden statue that you set up.”
If there are echoes in this reading that sound familiar, it is because this influenced this prayer of Jesus:
“My Father, if it is possible,
let this cup pass from me;
yet, not as I will, but as you will.”
If brave souls, like Jesus, Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego need to pray for courage, then so can I.