"All of us are blessed with responsibility for others. To hold the priesthood of God is to be held responsible by God for the eternal lives of His children."
Even when life gets crazy and things get tough, we are still required to help those around us.
"The Lord knew you would have such days when He called you to this position, so He have you a story to encourage you... [the] parable of the Good Samaritan... is really the story of a great priesthood bearer in these busy, difficult last days.
"In the Lord's words the Samaritan, when he saw the wounded man, stopped because 'he had compassion.'"Compassion is described as a feeling of wanting to help someone who is sick, hungry, in trouble, etc. I tried to get this point across when we went over Elder Holland's talk Like a Broken Vessel. I think I got through to them in the moment, but it may have been fleeting. So we'll have to use this talk soon to keep making the point.
I loved the assurances Pres Eyring outlined that can come to those who are called into positions where much is required. I remember the time my husband was called as Bishop, during his 2nd year of Law School (night student at Georgetown) and while he was serving as the General's Executive Officer at the Pentagon- he had to be in the office before the general and couldn't leave until after the general left- and we lived in Baltimore where the commute was an hour train ride... Many of these assurances were tender mercies- miracles- in our family.
Pres Monson's talk was also great! I loved his examples of the two types of shepherds. And even though he was talking to priesthood bearers, Home Teachers, it could also identify with the sisters and Visiting Teaching.
"Pres David O McKay admonished: 'Home Teaching is one of our most urgent and most rewarding opportunities to nurture and inspire, to counsel and direct our Father's children ... [It] is a divine service, a divine call. It is our duty as Home Teachers to carry the ... spirit into every home and heart. To love the work and do our best will bring unbound peace, joy and satisfaction to [a noble,] dedicated [teacher] of God's children.'"
In April of 2001, Elder Wirthlin spoke in Conference. He stated: "Far too many in the world today- thousands upon thousands of families- experience want each day. They hunger. They ache with cold. They suffer from sickness. They grieve for thier children. They mourn for the safety of thier families. These people are not strangers and foreigners, but children of our Heavenly Father. They are our brothers and sisters. They are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. Their fervent prayers ascend to heaven pleading for respite, for relief from suffering. At this very hour, on this very day, some members even in our own church are praying for a miracle that would allow them to surmount the suffering that surrounds them. If while we have the means to do so, we do not have compassion for them and spring to thier aid, we are in danger of being among those the prophet Moroni spoke of when he said: ' Behold ye do love money and your substance and your fine apparel...more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick,and the afflicted' (Mormon 8:37). Brothers and sisters in a sense you can bring to the needy, by paying a generous fast offering."
ReplyDeleteElder Wirthlin continued: " How much should we pay in fast offerings? My brothers and sisters, the measure of our fast offering to bless the poor is a measure of our gratitude to our Heavenly Father. Will we who have been blessed abundantly turn our backs on those who need our help? Paying a generous fast offering is a measure of our willingness to consecrate ourselves to relieve the sufferings of others. President Marion G Romney said: 'give for your own welfare. Give enough so that you can give yourself into the kingdom of God through consecrating of your means and your time. As members of the Church, we have a special and sacred responsibility to assist those in need and help relieve their burdens. Observance of the law of the fast can help all people of all nations.' "
ReplyDeletePresident Uchtdorf tells of a statue of Jesus broken by the bombings of World War II. The townspeople tried every avenue to have it fixed, but no one could restore the outstretched hands. At the base of the statue was placed a sign: "You are my hands". President Uchtdorf continued: Let our hearts and hands be stretched out in compassion towards others, for everyone is walking his or her own difficult path. As disciples of Jesus Christ, our Master, we Re called to support and heal rather then condemn. We are commanded to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort. True love requires action. Christ did not just speak about love, He showed it each day of His life. He did not remove Himself from the crowd. Being amidst the people, Jesus reached out to the one. He rescued the lost. He not only taught, but also showed us how to succor the weak, lift up the hands which hung down and strengthen the feeble knees. If we are His hands, should we not do the same? April 2010 Conference
ReplyDeleteSorry I was exhausted from losing dad from Sunday school, I'm in the library. Then I taught Relief Society, lessons always wear me out, so anxious about the lesson and wanting to please Heavenly Father, pleading for the gift of the Spirit.....and Sacrament Mtg always wears me out. I went to bed after making dinner.
ReplyDeleteNow for today. Elder Marion D Hanks from the seventy spoke in October Conference 1976. The Lord expects more of the disciple of Jesus Christ than an ordinary response to need, to opportunity, to commandments. He expects more humility, more hearkening, more repenting, more mercy, more forgiving and faith, more service and sacrifice. He taught the lesson many times and many ways. The Samaritan in the parable understood something the priest and the Levite seemed not to know. Where there is a need, I personally have the responsibility to help. There is little use asking, who is my neighbor? I am a neighbor to my neighbor in need.
Elder Hanks continued: All of us, I'm sure, will find time to shed our tears. It may be in sorrow and Lamentations that we have not measured more nearly to the standard of the Lord's expectation in our concern and compassion for each other-that in learning and speaking much about Him, we have never been sufficient with the warmth of His loving heart, have never really been His disciple in matters that meant so much to Him. Our tears will be tears of gladness and rejoicing if somehow amidst all exhortation and admonition, all the searching and the seeking and the running to and for, we have begun to understand what He meant when He asked us, What more do ye do than others?, and have lifted our eyes and our lives therefore, to greater love toward the sorrowing soul, to more honesty and diligence, to more fairness and kindness and more joy and rejoicing in the ward where we live when a beloved son or daughter comes home again.
ReplyDeletePresident Thomas S Monson stated in the Feb. Ensign 2014' "Great service is given when we perform vicarious ordinances for those who have gone beyond the veil. In many cases we do not those for whom we perform the work. We expect no thanks, nor do we the assurance that they will accept that which we offer. However, we serve, and that process we attain that which comes of no other effort: we literally become Savior's on Mount Zion. As our Savior gave His life as a vicarious sacrifice for us, so we, in some small measure, do the same when we perform proxy work in the temple for those who have no means of moving forward unless something is done for them by those of us here on earth."
ReplyDelete