It's impossible to please everyone. No matter what we say, somebody somewhere will not be happy with it. If we narrow the field and try to please just a few people, even then we will run into conflict at some point. Many people endure a lifetime of tension and uncertainty, walking the tightrope of trying to hold a group of people together. Words that soothed yesterday fail today because of circumstances beyond our control. Praise the Lord forever for allowing us to have the privilege of pleasing Him! What a joy to be freed to be accountable only to the One Who never changes! (Heb 13:8)

God is the Father of us all. No parent wants their home environment to be a non-stop shouting match. In the same way, God wants His children to "love one another" (1 Jn 4:7). Often this love will take the form of sharing "our very lives" (1 Thes 2:8). God gives us words as gentle as those of a mother cooing delightfully to her infant (1 Thes 2:7). Sometimes God requires us to "profess the truth in love" (Eph 4:15). God may even command us to speak words that infuriate powerful people (Mt 23:25). He may tell us to deliver His word "in the face of great opposition" (1 Thes 2:2). Always, God requires us to speak honestly from pure motives — to please Him alone (1 Thes 2:3-4). He holds us accountable only for obedience, not for results. "Blessed are we...for what pleases God is known to us!" (Bar 4:4)

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, February 1, 1997

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, February 4, 1997