Final Blessing

A young, brand-new priest deeply committed to his calling was asked by the local funeral director to hold a graveside burial service at a small local cemetery for someone with no family or friends. The priest started for the cemetery early, but got lost on the way, and eventually arrived at what he was sure was the location for the burial a good half-hour late.

The freshly-turned dirt was the final clue that his late arrival had cost him his chance at his first funeral. He saw a backhoe and its crew, but the hearse was nowhere in sight, and the workmen were eating lunch.

The diligent young priest went to the open grave and found the vault lid already in place.

Taking out his funeral book, he read the service. Feeling guilty because of his tardiness, he preached an impassioned and lengthy service, sending the deceased to the great beyond in style.

As he was returning to his car, he overheard one of the workmen say: “I've been putting in septic tanks for 20 years and I ain't never seen anything like that.”

Humility

Each of us must know in our minds and believe in our hearts that even though we are different, you are like me and I am like you.

One of the definitions of humility is having an awareness of one's own character defects. To recognize and acknowledge that one has imperfections is being humble. We should never pray for ourselves unless by doing so it would help another person. To have self-importance puts self-first and this is not humble. We each have strengths and we each have weaknesses. Both the strengths and weaknesses are sacred. Life is sacred. We learn sacred things from weaknesses also. Therefore, all lives are developed through trial and error, strength and weakness, ups and downs, gains and losses - all of these are part of life and life is sacred. May the Holy Spirit let us see and know about the sacredness of life.

~ from Humility by Andrew Murray

Tolerance vs. Love

Apologist, author, and speaker Josh McDowell writes:

Tolerance says, "You must approve of what I do."

Love responds, "I must do something harder: I will love you, even when your behavior offends me."

Tolerance says, "You must agree with me."

Love responds, "I must do something harder: I will tell you the truth, because I am convinced 'the truth will set you free.'"

Tolerance says, "You must allow me to have my way."

Love responds, "I must do something harder: I will plead with you to follow the right way, because I believe you are worth the risk."

Tolerance seeks to be inoffensive;

Love takes risks.

Tolerance glorifies division;

Love seeks unity.

Tolerance costs nothing;

Love costs everything.

Source: Josh McDowell, Focus on the Family Magazine

(August 1999)

How We Look at Others

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood.

The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside. “That laundry is not very clean,” she said. “She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap.” Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.

About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: “Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?”

The husband said, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”

And so it is with life. What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look.

Peanut

George Washington Carver, the scientist who developed hundreds of useful products from the peanut: "When I was young, I said to God, 'God, tell me the mystery of the universe.' But God answered, 'That knowledge is reserved for me alone.' So I said, 'God, tell me the mystery of the peanut.' Then God said, 'Well, George, that's more nearly your size.' And he told me."

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, is Good Shepherd Sunday and the 58th World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Shepherds tending flocks of sheep are some of the earliest characters in scripture. Abel, the son of Adam and Eve was a shepherd. Other Old Testament sheep tenders are Rachel the wife of Jacob, Zipporah the wife of Moses and David, probably the most famous shepherd in scripture. The shepherd’s job is to lead the sheep to pasture, protect them, and keep them together and safe.

Speaking through the Prophet Ezekiel (Ezk 34:11), the Lord God says: “I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep.” In today’s Gospel from John 10:11, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.” The Greek word John used for “good” is kalos which means model or ideal. Like God, his Father, Jesus sees his mission to lead the lost sheep of Israel and those “who do not belong to this fold.” Jesus is the shepherd who will bring all the sheep together as “one flock” with “one shepherd.” When St. Peter addresses the elders of the early church in 1 Peter 5:2-4, he reminds them to willingly tend the “flock of God in your midst,” as God does, striving to “be examples to the flock.”

God’s flock still needs men and women to shepherd them towards the Kingdom of Heaven. Our Holy Father Pope Francis asks us to pray for vocations to the priesthood and to the consecrated life. In his Message for the 58th World Day of Prayer for Vocations 2021, the Holy Father says, “8 December last, the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the declaration of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church, marked the beginning of a special year devoted to him (cf. Decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary, 8 December 2020). For my part, I wrote the Apostolic Letter Patris Corde, whose aim was ‘to increase our love for this great saint’…. God looks on the heart (cf. 1 Sam 16:7), and in Saint Joseph he recognized the heart of a father, able to give and generate life in the midst of daily routines. Vocations have this same goal: to beget and renew lives every day. The Lord desires to shape the hearts of fathers and mothers: hearts that are open, capable of great initiatives, generous in self-giving, compassionate in comforting anxieties and steadfast in strengthening hopes. The priesthood and the consecrated life greatly need these qualities nowadays, in times marked by fragility but also by the sufferings due to the pandemic, which has spawned uncertainties and fears about the future and the very meaning of life. Saint Joseph comes to meet us in his gentle way, as one of ‘the saints next door’. At the same time, his strong witness can guide us on the journey.”

During the next week please pray for good shepherds to lead our Church in the future.

God, source of creation and love,

you invite each of us to serve you through the gift of our life.

May your grace encourage men and women

to serve the Church as priests, sisters, brothers, and lay ministers.

Make me an instrument to encourage others to give of themselves,

and challenge me to do the same.

Amen

I Choose

It’s quiet. It’s early. My coffee is hot. The sky is still black. The world is still asleep. The day is coming.

In a few moments the day will arrive. It will roar down the track with the rising of the sun. The stillness of the dawn will be exchanged for the noise of the day. The calm of solitude will be replaced by the pounding pace of the human race. The refuge of the early morning will be invaded by decisions to be made and deadlines to be met. For the next twelve hours I will be exposed to the day’s demands. It is now that I must make a choice.

Because of Calvary, I’m free to choose. And so I choose.

I choose love.

No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves.

I choose joy.

I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical, the tool of the lazy thinker. I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.

I choose peace.

I will live forgiven. I will forgive so that I may live.

I choose patience.

I will overlook the inconveniences of the world. Instead of cursing the one who takes my place, I’ll invite Him to do so. Rather than complain that the wait is too long, I will thank God for a moment to pray. Instead of clinching my fist at new assignments, I will face them with joy and courage.

I choose kindness.

I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone. Kind to the rich, for they are afraid. And kind to the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.

I choose goodness.

I will go without a dollar before I take a dishonest one. I will be overlooked before I will boast. I will confess before I will accuse. I choose goodness.

I choose faithfulness.

Today I will keep my promises. My debtors will not regret their trust. My associates will not question my word. My wife will not question my love. And my children will never fear that their father will not come home.

I choose gentleness.

Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle. If I raise my voice, may it be only in praise. If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.

I choose self-control.

I am a spiritual being. After this body is dead, my spirit will soar. I refuse to let what will rot, rule the eternal. I choose self-control. I will be drunk only by joy. I will be impassioned only by my faith. I will be influenced only by God. I will be taught only by Christ. I choose self-control.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To these I commit my day. If I succeed, I will give thanks. If I fail, I will seek His grace. And then, when this day is done, I will place my head on my pillow and rest.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. Against such there is no law.” 

~ Galatians 5:22-23​