Cardinal Wolf Dietrich

 

In 2002 I led a group of fifteen Americans on a trip to Romania.  We had a great time in Romania and then headed home.  We were to fly out of Munich, Germany, so we overnighted in Salzburg, Austria for some sightseeing.  Two blocks from our hotel was St. Sebastian Cathedral with an old cemetery behind it.  In the cemetery was the mausoleum of a famous townsman, Wolf Dietrich.  Cardinal Wolf Diedrich died in 1617 and left an endowment.  The interest from the endowment was to be used to pay the salary for a priest whose only responsibility was to go there daily and pray for the soul of Cardinal Dietrich to be absolved from purgatory and promoted to heaven.  While there I was there in 2002, a priest came to the cemetery, unlocked the iron door, prayed a two-minute prayer, re-locked the door and left.  His job was done for the day.  What an easy job!  But just think of the implications.  A priest has been praying for Wolf Dietrich’s soul daily, for the past four hundred years with no more hope than in 1617!  Hey, we make it into heaven, not by our own merit, nor by the merit of the prayers of a priest, but by the death of Jesus Christ.  Paul said in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Paul said that our work earns us only death, but the gift of Jesus Christ is eternal life.  No priest can earn us eternal life; eternal life is given to us by faith in Jesus Christ!

Jesus paid it all!

All to Him, I owe.

Sin hath left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow.

Will's Socks

Alright, I admit it.  I am obsessive/compulsive.  I have to keep everything straight and lined up.  For example: I have a dozen black socks that I wear all the time.  But to keep from wearing out one pair, I rotate my socks (like rotating the tires on your car).  I have a sock drawer and when I wash a pair of socks, they go into the drawer on the left side.  And when I get a pair of socks out to wear, I get them from the right side of the drawer, so that all of my socks get used equally.  It takes me no more time to use my “system” than it takes you to throw your socks into a drawer.  Or at least that’s what I tell myself.  So, my grandson, Will, left a pair of his socks at my house when he was here at Christmas.  I washed them and put them in my sock drawer for safe keeping until he returns, and I can give his socks back to him.  So, I had a great idea a week ago.  I asked the dear Lord to remind me to pray for Will each time that I see his socks in my sock drawer, which is once or twice a day.  And now I am in the habit of praying for my grandson when I open my sock drawer and see his socks.  Which, by the way, are in my sock rotation too.  Except I don’t wear his socks, I just return them to the left side of the drawer, back into the rotation.  Paul was speaking of Philemon in Philemon verse 4, but I have appropriated this verse to apply to Will: “I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers.”  I thank God for Will (and for all of my grandchildren) and pray for him when I see his socks.  Daily.  Hey, try it.  Think of a memory trigger that you can use to increase your prayer life.  It will help someone … and it will help you as well.

 

Gift Cards

 

I am convinced that women love discount cards … and merchants know that and use that information for their benefit.  I have a keychain with four keys on it.  Only four.  I have the house key, the church key, my car key and my truck key.  Period.  But my dear wife has all of these little “discount” cards attached to her keychain.  Panera Bread club, Food Lion membership card, Wendy’s discount card, Walgreen’s savings card.  She has ten little cards on her keychain!  And then there are the food gift cards.  The gift cards determine where we are going to eat.  It doesn’t matter where we want to eat, it matters what gift card we have in hand.  So, whoever gives us a gift card actually determines where we will eat.  My freedom to decide is taken away from me!  Hey, there is one gift that I have been glad to receive.  And that’s the gift of salvation that we offered me by the precious Lamb of God.  Paul said in Ephesians  2:8&9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”  I received that gift from God April 17, 1956, and what a gift it was!  It is “the gift that keeps on giving.”  And I don’t need a card or keychain to access it.  It’s free to me, praise the Lord!