Trying to stay more on the ball with things, I've got my reflection for this week ready to post. Lucky you! Today, we celebrated the memorial of St. Benedict. (Who just so happens to be my patron saint.) What follows is the reflection I prepared ahead of time... not so much what I actually said. When we walked into the church this morning, there was a crowd of about thirty people (there is usually about seven), and most of them were young! One of the families in the parish was having a reunion and they all have a Mass said for the mom who passed away some time ago and they all go to the Mass as part of the family reunion. So... needless to say that faced with a totally different crowd, I had to "adapt" things a bit. Anyhow, this will give you a rough idea. The readings for today were Genesis 41:55-57, 42:5-7a, 17-24a; Psalm 33:2-3, 10-11, 18-19; and Matthew 10:1-7.
I think an underlying theme we can take from today's readings is that we have a responsibility to look after others, no matter how they have treated us; we are always obliged to care.I think that the life of St. Benedict speaks powerfully as an example of how this can actually be done. As I was thinking about his life and today's readings, I remembered two bits of wisdom that different priest have passed along to me. The first was about getting to heaven. Speaking of what our goal ought to be in our journey to heaven, a priest once said to me, “Getting to Heaven is not about saying, ‘Look, Lord, here I am!’ but being able to say, ‘Look, Lord, here I am, and see who else I’ve brought with me!’”
On various other occasions, my spiritual director has stressed to me that it is not very often in life that we are faced with choices between good and bad. Rather, nearly every day, we are forced to choose between what is good, what's better, and what's best.
I see these two truths as something that St. Benedict lived excellently. From what we know about him, St. Benedict was a man who always strove to do what was best for others; he sought to put his life at their service, not only in good ways, but in the best ways. There’s a story about St. Benedict that shortly after he had decided to live as a hermit, he kept thinking about this girl he had known while he was a student in Rome. Thoughts of going back to marry her became so torturous that he threw himself into a thorn-bush and rolled around until any thought of doing anything other than staying put and following what he knew God’s will for his life to be was dispelled from his mind. Was this a choice between good and bad? No. Rather, it was a choice to live the life that would allow him to serve God, and others, best.
St. Benedict maintained this focus throughout his life, even when he was betrayed, almost murdered, by the people he sought to serve, his own fellow monks. Yet, even after that, when he writes his rule, he emphasizes that monks must be tolerant of one another’s shortcomings, respect one another, and love one another.
So today, let’s ask for St. Benedict’s intercession that we, too, will be given the grace and strength to always desire what is best for others and to put ourselves at their service, regardless of how they treat us, so that when we stand before God we will be able to say, “Look, here I am, and see who I’ve brought with me!”
I have a lot of pictures to post from "various and sundry activities," as Fr. Jack would say, I just got around to touching them up today. Hopefully I'll get them posted some time this weekend. Until then, be well.
Love & Blessings,
~J
Posts
