Take Care of Yourself

 

Prayer for Hearing

“What’s wrong, Paddy?” asked the priest.

“I need you to pray for my hearing,” said Paddy.

The priest put his hands on Paddy's ears and prayed. When he was done, he asked, “So how’s your hearing?”

“I don’t know,” said Paddy. “It isn’t until next Tuesday.”​

When Things Go Wrong

“If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine.”
~Morris West

Today I watched Finding Nemo, one of my absolute favorite Disney movies. When Dory and Marlin are searching for his lost son Nemo and it seems like they’re doomed to fail, Marlin says, “I promised I’d never let anything happen to him.”

Dory responds, “Hmm. That’s a funny thing to promise. You can’t never let anything happen to him. Then nothing would ever happen to him. Not much fun for little Harpo.”

As someone who has often worried about people I love, I find this incredibly insightful. The truth is we never can know for certain when a storm is coming. We can’t fully protect ourselves or the people we love from hardship.

What we can do is choose not to cause ourselves pain by shutting down, fearing everything that might go wrong. When we hide from the worst that could possibly happen, we also close ourselves off from the best.

Today if you’re feeling fearful about things that might go wrong tomorrow, come back to the present and recognize things that are going right today.

There’s a lot of sunshine to enjoy in life, but we can only appreciate it if we’re willing to be firmly rooted in the here and now.

Basket of Water

The story is told of an old man who lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning, Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading from his old worn-out Bible. His grandson, who wanted to be just like him, tried to imitate him in any way he could.

One day the grandson asked, "Papa, I try to read the Bible just like you but I don't understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bible do?" The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and said, "Take this coal basket down to the river and bring back a basket of water." The boy did as he was told, even though all the water leaked out before he could get back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, "You will have to move a little faster next time," and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again.

This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was "impossible to carry water in a basket," and he went to get a bucket instead. The old man said, "I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You can do this. You're just not trying hard enough," and he went out the door to watch the boy try again.

At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got far at all. The boy scooped the water and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, "See Papa, it's useless!"

"So you think it is useless?" the old man said. "Look at the basket." The boy looked at the basket and for the first time he realized that the basket looked different. Instead of a dirty old coal basket, it was clean. "Son, that's what happens when you read the Bible. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, it will change you from the inside out."

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our gospel today is the Beatitudes, the foundation of all Jesus’ teaching (Matthew 5: 3 – 12). St. Matthew presents us with eight Beatitudes which describe the qualities that distinguish citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. The citizens of Heaven are the people who are humble and helpless and who put their entire trust in God, those whose hearts are broken and sorrowful, those who are meek, those who yearn for total goodness, those who are merciful, those who are pure in heart, those who are peacemakers and people who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ.

The Beatitudes challenge our way of thinking. They present a different set of values. They turn everything upside down. In our success driven and money-oriented world, the Beatitudes don't make much sense. How can people who are poor in spirit, meek, and persecuted be happy? For many people, Jesus could be talking about Astrophysics or something from a fantasy novel. In fact, some people do consider the Kingdom of Heaven as some kind of future, pie-in-the sky, other world.

The Beatitudes call us to holiness today, now, here in Peachtree City, Georgia. As Christians, we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven and it is our responsibility to make the Kingdom of Heaven real and tangible here and now. Blessedness, true happiness comes when we acknowledge God our Father as the center of our universe. True happiness comes when we follow the advice of Zephaniah in today's first reading (Zep 2:3; 3:12-13) and we seek the Lord, seek justice and seek humility in everything we do.

Eternal God,

teach us the hidden wisdom of the gospel,

so that we may hunger and thirst for holiness,

work tirelessly for peace,

and be counted among those

who seek first the blessedness of your kingdom.

Let the spirit of Jesus be alive in us


now and forever.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever.

AMEN

Dr. Seuss

 

Bring Your Umbrella

One summer, a drought threatened the crop in a small town. On a hot and dry Sunday, the old parish priest told his congregation, "There isn't anything that will save us except to pray for rain. Go home, pray, believe, and come back next Sunday ready to thank God for sending rain."

The people did as they were told and returned to church the following Sunday. But as soon as the old priest saw them, he was furious.

"We can't worship today. You do not yet believe," he said.

"But," they protested, "we prayed, and we do believe."

"Believe?" he responded. "Then where are your umbrellas?"

The story applies to all of us. There are those people who leave their umbrellas at home. Throughout their lives, they are merely hoping their wishes and prayers will bear fruit, but they expect little.

Others expect their dreams and desires to come to pass. It is as if they journey through life always prepared for something to happen.

Today, how will you approach that which you are yearning for? Will you expect your prayers and work to bring about hoped-for results?

Will you bring your umbrella?