SS Thoughts #29: Move that fence!

A story is told of some soldiers wanting to bury the body of a fallen comrade. It was late in the evening when they knocked on the door of a priest in whose parish the cemetery was located.

“Was he a Catholic?” the priest asked. “We don’t know”, they answered.

“Well then, I’m sorry”, said the priest, “I cannot bury him in our cemetery”.

Disappointed, the soldiers dug a grave outside the cemetery’s fence and buried their friend. Next morning they returned to see if everything was all right, but they could not locate the grave of their comrade.

Just then, the priest came out of the church and told the soldiers, “All night I was burdened about my refusal. The rules say that only Catholics may be buried in the cemetery. But the rules do not say that I can’t move the fence. So I moved the fence to include the grave of a brave soldier”.

Seems like we have to move our fences in order to surround and embrace our brothers and sisters…… Seems like we should not rest comfortably behind our walls and gates while they are left outside facing all kinds of danger from the enemy……  Seems like we just cannot continue to put barriers between them and us…...

Christ’s second coming is at hand. Perhaps—as it says in Luke 14:21-23—we have to go out into the roads and lanes and compel our brothers and sisters to come in. What do you think?