Write for God

Richard Wurmbrand

Armando Valladares

I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you…

 

A paperback book titled Tortured for Christ arrived in the mail a few days ago. Its author was Richard Wurmbrand, a Christian preacher who spent 14 years in solitary confinement for preaching the faith in Romania. On my bookshelf are two copies of Armando Valladares’ prison memoirs, Against All Hope. In both memoirs, an ordinary man withstands unimaginable torture for the sake of his principles and emerges vested with God’s grace.

Valladares was imprisoned for his opposition to Cuba’s Communist regime, but his Christian faith bouyed him during his lowest moments. In prison, he meets evangelicals whose crime was preaching the Gospel in an atheistic nation. Valladares’ 22 years in prison included time in solitary in the worst of Castro’s gulag institutions.

Wurmbrand and Valladares were physically tortured, but they emerged from prison with a stronger faith they shared with the rest of us. As we read of their trials, we can think of the excuses we hear from those around us who call themselves Christians and yet don’t do the least of their brothers. When giving God an hour in His house one day a week is too much, how little are we giving? When we consider that some of us give all and others give nothing, who is accomplishing the work that God gave us to do?

These two men glorified God on Earth. Wurmbrand passed away in 2001, but Valladares is still actively speaking out for human rights. We glorify God when we speak out for peace, human rights and justice, just as these two men did. In prisons all over the world, there are Wurmbrands and Valladareses who are being refined through suffering to emerge as examples for us to follow.

Pray for all who are suffering for the sake of the Gospel today. May we all learn how to glorify God no matter where we are.

Last night, red beans, potatoes, onions, turkey sausage, tomatoes and carrots went into our crockpot. This morning, we woke to the aroma of bean soup so fragrant it filled the house with the promise of dinner many hours later.

When times are lean, cooks improvise. I remember watching my grandmother stretch rations for seven into a meals for 11 when I was a child in Cuba. My parents, sister and I had been disenfranchised by the Marxist state for requesting visas to leave. If you wanted out, the government took away your ration book and your job to starve you into seeing things their way. My grandmother’s frugal cooking had been perfected during the Depression; tasty meals that didn’t cost much were her specialty and she kept all of us fed well. She was not only a masterful cook, but the love she added to every meal made them nourishing for the body and soul.

Times are tough for many families in America, including ours. Our one-income family is doing with nine percent less in salary these days, thanks to a decision made at the not-for-profit organization where I work–not five, not ten percent, but an arbitrary nine. My children aren’t in the habit of eating nine percent less at their meals, so the cook in our house–yours truly–had to improvise.

Our red-bean meal was hearty, filling and healthy. The crockpot slow-cooks food without much work, so it was a breeze to prepare. A friend of the family is growing food in her yard now to prepare for difficult times ahead. Her decision reminded of stories about Victory Gardens in decades past.

Tonight, we ate well without much fuss. Knowing that we could survive an unexpected loss of income was rooted in our belief in God’s providence. As my husband says, God has us.

I’ve been reading about Catherine Doherty, the founder of the Madonna House poustinia way of life that sets aside time for prayer and fasting in a quiet room or building. Doherty, whose cause for sainthood is being considered by the Church, lived by what she called “duty of the moment,”

“The duty of the moment is what you should be doing at any given time, in whatever place God has put you. You may not have Christ in a homeless person at your door, but you may have a little child. If you have a child, your duty of the moment may be to change a dirty diaper. So you do it. But you don’t just change that diaper, you change it to the best of your ability, with great love for both God and that child…. There are all kinds of good Catholic things you can do, but whatever they are, you have to realize that there is always the duty of the moment to be done. And it must be done, because the duty of the moment is the duty of God.”

A humble way of living may include lovingly changing a child’s diaper or thanking God for red-bean soup when we could have gone hungry. In feeding the body, we can feed the soul. Either way, God has us.