remembering you in our prayers,
unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love…”

These wonderful words from the beginning of today’s second reading from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians (1 Thess 1:1-5b) made me think of all the wonderful persons I have encountered whose “work of faith and labor of love” have influenced me and so many others.  Just as Paul, in this his earliest letter, encourages his beloved flock in Thessalonica to stay the course in living out the gospel, so should we provide encouragement to those who have modeled the faith to us through word and deed.

So I encourage you to contact someone today who has been a strong Christian influence on you, thanking them, and affirming them in their example.

And, while we’re at it, let us continue to pray and work to be the kind of persons who model Christ to others in faith and love.