The men’s early morning Bible Study at Panera’s got into
depth, trying to understand Peter’s instructions on how to grow in
holiness. Peter said it starts with
faith, and then is supplemented with virtue, then knowledge (2Pt:5-6) …. And there
we got stuck. Virtue --- faith, hope and
charity have to be worked on, to become natural in our hearts. These have to be supplemented with knowledge ….
But there were still more steps in the path Peter laid out that we didn’t get
to this week. Eventually we will find
that the steps will all get down to faith in action: love. But, as we were finding, growing in Christ-like
love is something to be worked at --- and studied.
Mass followed the Bible Study for me, and I met Geri, and we
planned to meet and discuss a community project on loving our neighbor. Then I went home to have breakfast, but
Maddie called from Meals on Wheels: “Tom, you are my last resort; I have no one
else to call. If you can’t deliver meals
today, I’ll have to call all the people and say they’ll have to do without, and
I know for some this is their only meal.”
And so, I drove to pick up and deliver the 15 meals. It was a delivery route I had never done before,
and it took me 15 minutes just to identify the streets on a map, and plan a
delivery route. Did I say “Plan”? Hah!
Construction, accidents, and just plain bad data on the delivery
instruction sheet had me taking the most inefficient routes possible, as I went
from one end of the township to the other, to places that in my 40+ years living
here I did not know existed. It took me
over 2 hours, and 50 miles. But it was
worth it.
I met some frail and lonely people, delighted at the hot food
I brought, and the visit. One woman saw
the crucifix around my neck and asked where I went to church. She recently turned in her driver’s license
due to worsening eyesight, and needed a ride to Sunday mass. I told her I’d be delighted to arrange that
with her local parish. She beamed, and I
later did as I promised her. The last
person on the route lived in an old farmhouse, now surrounded by new
construction. She was watching for my
arrival --- even though I must have been over an hour late versus the normal
delivery person --- and she came out a side door to greet me; the house’s front
steps were rotted and unusable. I gave
her the meals for her and her husband, and the extra food I was instructed to
provide her for the weekend. Before
accepting the food, however, she hugged me.
I was too overwhelmed to think, but on the way back I resolved to get
her signed up with the grocery-providing ministry in the township, even if I
had to drive groceries to her myself each week.
When I finally got home at two o’clock, I had my
breakfast. Then I went to the chapel to
give thanks for this day, and to replace the vigil candle, as I do each Friday.
It was a good day; I gave thanks.
When I arrived home again, I saw that the live trap outside
my garage door had sprung, and a small gopher was trapped. One less to be digging under my
driveway. I was tired, but as I put him
into my car I said: “Time for a ride to your new home, little fella.” And as I was slowly backing out of the
driveway, my neighbor’s car drove into my path.
Crash! No damage appeared on my
car, but hers was dented along the whole side.
Oh, well. Yes, today was a good
day, but it was a normal one also. No
day on this earth is perfect. But I give
thanks for them all.
- -
- - - - - - - -
The next night, at adoration, I read some pages from the
book I Thirst --- 40 Days with Mother Teresa.
The Day 16 meditation focuses on Mary at the foot of the cross. Mother Teresa’s reflection on the scene says:
“So you see in what way you too can take your stand at the foot of the Cross,
with Mary, our Mother, and satiate the thirst of Jesus. Let us offer everything to Jesus --- every
sorrow, humiliation, discomfort.”
Later the book author (Joseph Longford) comments: “Now she
is at the place of crucifixion, ahead of everyone else. She looks for the disciples of Jesus, His
picked men … Finally, John arrives. He
had at first run away like the others, but he overcomes his weakness and makes
his way back to Our Lady through the jeering crowd along the Via Dolorosa.”
“The jeering crowd”?
We usually see depicted, as in the movie The Passion, the weeping
friends of Jesus being nearby as He went to His death, but in truth they were
probably in the minority, and were mocked and jeered at, as Jesus was. His death was not among a crowd of His
friends. The few who came were jeered;
most stayed away; they were not wanted.
All these thoughts here, my “good day” yesterday, and John’s
experience of so long ago, give me great understanding of Mother Teresa’s
words, and what she herself experienced in her life, not a life filled with
great joy for the work she was doing, but much suffering because of what she
was doing. “Let us offer everything to
Jesus --- every sorrow, humiliation, discomfort.” Those things make for good days.
He went without comfort so you might have it. He postponed
joy so you might share in it. He
willingly chose isolation so you
might never be alone in your hurt and sorrow.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada
