Fortunately for us, the church recognized from its earliest days that we would need regular periods of reflection and renewed effort if we were to free ourselves from the relentless grip of worldly cares, to once again imitate the example of Christ and reflect it in our lives. It did so by developing the season of Lent, a season which invites us to renew our concentration on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving which lie at the very heart of Christian living.
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I recently went to a local dairy to buy a gallon of milk. It was early in the morning and only one other customer, a young woman, was in the store. She too was purchasing a gallon of milk, and having brought it to the conuter, slowly started to count out the change in her purse, only to find he was 15 cents short.
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I have often had occasion to remember a story I had read many years ago about a man—an industrial engineer—who had to take a weekly flight to a distant manufacturing plant owned by his company. He made this weekly trip for many years, and it had become an integral part of his weekly routine.
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In Edwin Malcom's lovely devotional poem, The Shoes of Happiness, we are confronted by Conrad, an old cobbler of great devotion. One night as he was sleeping, he was told in a dream the Lord himself would come to visit him in his shop.
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Human nature being what it is most of us are impressed by the grand gestures, the big donation, the place of honor and prominence. People who rise to the top because of their tireless effort and diligence are of course worth of being extolled or even venerated.
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I had an uncle, my father's youngest brother, who served in the Army Medial Corp during World War 2. He landed with the first wave of troops in the Normandy invasion, and wa still serving when the troops entered Berlin, and the Axis surrenderd.
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When I was a young child, we lived in a small town. Not far from my house was a vast tract of woodlands that extended for uncounted acres in every direction. One quiet day, a young child was lost in the woods, and the town mobilized to find her. Search parties were organized, volunteers gathered, and alarms were sounded. After many hours of searching by hundreds of people, the small girl was found huddled under a tree, thankfully unhurt.
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Once there, it gathers from somewhere more than two hundred thousand times its weight, and forcing all of this raw material through a single stem, it constructs a large plant, fills it with blossoms and begins to make tomatoes. It ornaments its tomatoes with a smooth shiney skin, fills them with flavorful juice and warm meaty pulp, and makes scores of new seeds like itself, each one capable of repeating this miraculous process of reproduction.
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Throughout his life, St. Barnabas showed again and again that he was a genuine Christian. The apostles called him “son of encouragement” (Acts 4:36) because of the sublime spiritual qualities they saw in him. When the other apostles were skeptical of St. Paul’s conversion, it was the earnest advocacy of Barnabas that won them over.
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Almost fifty years ago, my home parish Church was taken by the state of Connecticut by eminent domain for the construction of Route 25. After moving to our new building, I wanted to pass by the old Church one last time before its demolition.
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It has been said that one of the hallmarks of mature adulthood is the capacity for making decisions and accepting responsibility for them. At the same time, however, you cannot hep but notice how prevalent blame-shifting is.
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When I was growing up in Connecticut, we belonged to a close-knit parish. We were in some ways like a large extended family, and we looked after one another with uncommon affection.
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My dearly beloved brothers and sister, the Great and Holy day of Christmas is almost upon us. Off in the distant horizon, the star of Bethlehem is shining in the sky, and beckoning us to come, and to behold where the Christ child lays.
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Several years ago at church camp, I had the opportunity to climb several mountains. While hiking and climbing through the land surrounding these mountains, it was easy to observe the process by which the forest renews itself. When a mighty oak or maple tree is blown down or destroyed by lightening, an open place is left in the dense woods.
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In a recent study published by the World Health Organization, recent findings about mental health issues were publicized so the topic would become a part of our public discussion. Because the problems of providing adequate medical care for physical illness, especially in third-world-countries, seems so intractable and daunting, however, the issues relating to the treatment of mental illnesses are often marginalized or completely ignored.
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One time, for example, a young boy heard his father offer a fervent prayer for the poor and needy at their dinner table. When the prayers were over and all began to eat, the young boy asked, "Wouldn't it be simpler, dad, if we all just shared with those who have less?" Of course it would!
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I think that that it is is fair to say that tHere have been times when we have all criticized someone unfairly. Although we don’t know all the details of others’ circumstances, nor can we hope to understand their motives, this nonetheless does not deter us from being judgmental.
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I remember with special clarity the first night we spent in the house where we now live. Exhausted from moving, we went to bed early, but I was soon awakened by the noises of someone in the house! I jumped out of bed to confront the intruder, but soon discovered that no one was there; the noises I heard were the heat going on, and the unfamiliar creaks of a new house. As the days went by, I became accustomed to these background noises and soon I no longer heard them.
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All of us have heard stories that helped to restore our faith in people, and which emphasize that nothing can teach with the same power as that as a living example. One such story is told of a young boy who was standing over a heating grate on a sidewalk so he could keep warm.
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Toward its end, Diocletian ordered a monument to be erected and on it had these triumphant words inscribed, "The name Christian is extinguished." Twenty-five years later, however, Diocletian was dead, his successor Constantine had legalized Christianity and had ordered Bibles prepared at government expense.
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