Partners With Christ

"We have become partners with Christ if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end."(Heb 3:14)  It seems the more challenges we face even the little daily challenges of icy windshields, or "lost" keys, the more Jesus invites us to work more closely with him.
St. Paul the Hermit, a contemporary of St. Antony of the Desert, lived to be 113 and spent close to 100 years in the desert in prayer and fasting. He was orphaned at age 15, and when about to be reported as a Christian, he fled to the desert to hide and found life there so compatible that he spent the rest of his long life there in the "partnership" of prayer with the God who filled his heart with love and, according to legend, even sent ravens to bring him bread.
St. Emily of Vialar, a little known saint outside of France, was born in 1797, while the Reign of Terror was coming to an end.  She met opposition from the start as her father opposed her desire to help the poor.  Eventually forming a little congregation of sisters devoted to this task, she went to Algiers but after a few years was sent back to France by the Bishop.  Upon arriving home, she found that a trusted associate had embezzled the funds of the order, leaving the sisters so destitute that they had to go to a soup kitchen for daily nourishment.  She held steadfast, nonetheless, to the words of Jesus she had heard in prayer:  "Remain in my Presence.  If you stray, from it, I shall recall you."
Later, Bishop Eugene Mazenod (later Saint), who founded the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, invited her to come to Marseille where things turned around, and the congregation spread throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Australia. 
Tenacity, faith, trust, love, prayer...we cannot have partnership with Jesus without them.  When splinters kick up today, let us remember this.
Bro. Rene