WITH THE STRENGTH THAT COMES FROM GOD
2nd Sunday of Lent(A) March 20, 2011 Today's first reading waxes very hopeful. From a difficult command for Abram to "go forth" - thus, becoming the world's first migrant ever mentioned in any recorded account, a word of promise ensues from the mouth of God ... "I will bless you." On top of this was another promise ... "you will be a blessing." Moving from one's land of birth, having to go far from familiar territory, and exchanging it for some uncertain place, sans all the familiar sights and smells, and sounds of home can never be less than traumatic for anyone. We feel it in the thousands of songs written, as much by those who were left behind longing for loved ones gone far, like the haunting and pleading "Ritorna a Sorrento," as those who have chosen to go some far and forlorn place, as in the longing and plaintive lines of "Arrivederci Roma!" Leaving one's home is always a heart-breaking experience fo...