Principles

 Comedian Groucho Marx quipped, "Those are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others."

You and I have principles. And we also have opinions. I have opinions about what I think is right or wrong or good or bad. But… they're only opinions - I COULD be wrong! I won't try to build my life around my opinions, but I WILL endeavor to stand by my principles.

A 15-year-old boy learned a valuable lesson about life principles. He wrote a letter to "Dear Abby" about finding a woman's wallet that contained $127 as well as the woman's identification. He hopped onto his bicycle and peddled over to her house - about a mile away. He told her he found her wallet and she gave him a big hug. She also gave him twenty dollars.

That evening the boy told his parents about the event and his father said, "I don't think you should have accepted $20 for doing what you should have done. A person shouldn't be rewarded for being honest."

He pondered his father's statement and decided he would return the money. He biked to the lady's home and gave her back the twenty dollars. She didn't want to take it, but he told her she had to - that his father pointed out something to him that he had never realized before. Her eyes filled with tears as she said, "This is one for Ripley."

The boy's question to Abby? "Abby, who is Ripley?"

Is a life built around principles so unusual that Robert Ripley should mention it in his column "Believe It or Not"? When ideals such as honesty and a personal standard of always doing the right thing guide our every action and decision, we actually change. These great principles shape our lives and make us into persons of character. They build self esteem and teach confidence. That boy is fortunate to be raised by a wise father who had the wisdom to say, "Those are my principles."

Martin Luther King, Jr. put it well: "The time is always right to do what is right." Those were his principles. Decide to always do what is right - today and every day - and you will find yourself building a life that matters.

Commandments for Contentment

Shortcomings

Search out shortcomings and correct them. ~Anonymous

One of the hardest things to do is to look at our own shortcomings when we are angry at someone. It seems impossible to believe at such times that something may be wrong with us. This is the reason we are so often instructed to count to ten. When we find ourselves so out of sorts, so internally disrupted, there is usually something wrong with us.

It is our first obligation to take care of ourselves. It is out of love for ourselves that we withdraw and take a spot check inventory. The spot check inventory does not demean or humiliate us. On the contrary, the purpose is to speak with God briefly, check our vital signs, and clean out our connections.

I always need my connection with God. Nothing works without a clear, clean, strong, conscious contact with my Savior.

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I Asked the Lord to Bless You

 

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.

Divine Energy

Which of these qualities flow from the Divine Energy, Holy Spirit, inside of you?

Compassion … calm … listening … caring … innate harmony ... unconditional love … sense of the sacred in life … Being truly in the moment with another … non-judgmental attitude towards others … Joyful … peaceful … gentle … serene … humble … giving … Genuine … honest … focused … sensitive ,,, radiant … understanding … trusting … supportive … empathic … nurturing … empowering … wholeness … courage … strength … heart centered … warmth … tenderness​

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Throughout the month of October, all our Sunday gospel readings have come from chapter 10 of St. Mark’s gospel. We began the chapter with Jesus’ discussion about marriage, divorce and the special place children have in the kingdom. Then we encountered the rich man who wanted to inherit eternal life but was unwilling to take the action necessary to gain it. Last week we heard James and John ask Jesus for positions of power and influence in the kingdom of God but Jesus could not fulfill their request. This week we finish the chapter with Jesus encountering and healing Bartimaeous, a blind beggar sitting on the side of the road between Jericho and Jerusalem. 

The story of Bartimaeous presents a striking contrast both to Jesus’ discussion with the rich man and his conversation with James and John. Bartimaeous had a double handicap; he was blind and we assume he was poor because he was sitting on the side of the road begging. Although he was blind and poor, Bartimaeous had some qualities the rich man, James and John lacked. He had determination, faith, humility, courage and childlike acceptance. 

Bartimaeous went to a lot of trouble to get Jesus’ attention. Once he got it, he leapt into action, “He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus” (Mark 10:50). In all likelihood, that cloak was Bartimaeous’ only possession yet he was willing to leave it behind to stand before Jesus. When Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you” (Mark 10:51), the same question he asked James and John a few verses earlier, Bartimaeous didn’t ask for power, money, success or eternal life, he merely said, “Master, I want to see” (Mark10:51). Then Jesus healed him saying, “Go your way; your faith has saved you” (Mark 10:52). Now the story could end here but it doesn’t. There is one more line, “Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way” (Mark 10:52). 

Bartimaeous, with his sight fully restored, does not wander off to visit with family and friends or to tell everyone about what happened to him. His restored sight provided him with a vision greater than merely seeing what was around him; he saw a vision of the kingdom. With that vision, Bartimaeous made a life changing decision; he left everything behind and followed Jesus on the way to the cross. 

Our living God,

you are very near to us in our joys and pains.

Give us the eyes of faith and love

to see the mission you have given us in life

and the courage and grace to carry it out.

Make us also clear-sighted enough to see the needs of people

who cry out their misery or suffer in silence,

that we may bring them your healing compassion and lead them to you.

We ask this through Christ our Lord,

Amen