Love Acts

As I walked past the crucifix on the wall, I paused: “You know that I love You,” I said aloud.  I’m not sure if I was trying to remind Him, or me; I’ve said that hundreds of times.  But, tonight, almost as spontaneously, I heard myself saying further: “And people who love one another are friends.”  That gave me pause, and I smiled as I felt yes, we are friends.  And then again, almost out of the blue I said aloud: “And friends do things together.”  And that caused me to sit down.

Now I stared at the crucifix and contemplated my own words --- or were they?  My initial thoughts were that perhaps God was telling me I need to cooperate on some future opportunity He will provide, to love my neighbor as He would.  More than ever in my life I try to be open to His will, yet mine still overrides His so often, despite my efforts.  I can say with Jesus a million times “not my will, but Thy will be done,” but I can’t stop myself from quickly doing what I think best, often to my own benefit, not His.  But still I prayed: “I want to do Your will.  Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”

But after a while sitting in the quiet, I had other thoughts.  In the past few days and weeks, I have had many people in need cross my path.  Most were almost strangers, yet I did what seemed necessary, immediately.  Some I gave physical aid, to some financial, for some I prayed, one I helped up from the floor, and another I hugged.  And one I sat by the bedside as she lay dying.  Looking back, I had thought that those were opportunities God gave me to love my neighbor, and so I did.

After tonight’s thoughts about loving God, being friends with Him, and that “friends do things together,” I realized I was remembering things I did in recent days wrongly.  I remembered them as actions I did, but in truth they were actions WE did, together.  God isn’t just with us when we speak to Him in front of a crucifix, or at Sunday mass.  He is with us and with every person we meet, an opportunity to love our neighbor, together.  All we need do is act on that opportunity, even with a smile.

Do you love God?  Are you friends with Him?  What have you done together recently?  Thank Him.  If you can’t recall anything, then resolve to start.  “Well, Lord, what should we do today?” is a good morning prayer.

P.S.  The people crossing your path are probably not like mine.  I am long retired and live alone.  My helping hand is available because I have lots of free time.  Most people have other commitments or vocations to live out, perhaps a good opportunity for them is to just take the time to hug their kids.  But He has shown us He wants us to love our neighbor ---- not ourselves alone. And love is not hormones reacting in us, love is something willed for the good of the other, for they are children of God.  Love acts.

 

What Does it Matter?

How often have you heard those words said?  How often have you SAID those words?  We want to see cause and effect, but sometimes the effect is not visible to us, or not in the way we wanted, so we go about pretending that our actions have no effect.  What does it matter if I go to church on Sunday (and why would you ever go on a weekday?).  What does it matter if I spoil my kids?  What does it matter if I give to this charity or that?  What does it matter what the schools are teaching our kids (and why should I waste my time going to a school board meeting)?  A friend told me how her children wanted her to say that all religions are relative --- how do you know you’re right and they’re wrong; what does it matter?

Today I heard the Parable of the Sower read at mass.  I’ve come to see an importance in that parable that is rarely spoken of.  The focus is often on where the seed hits, and what happens afterward, but what about the Sower afterward?  I’ve come to see that we are the Sowers of seeds, as in that Gospel.  We are going along our path of life sowing seeds --- in things we say, things we do, things we write --- and then we continue along our path.  Rarely do we see the results of those seeds, because we’ve moved forward and the seeds are back there.  On a few occasions I’ve seen great blessings have occurred to some people because of my sown seeds ---- often seeds I did not even know I was sowing!  I wrote a blog about some thoughts, and someone said it changed their life.  I gave a book to someone and 6 months later he thanked me greatly for what that book had done for him --- I no longer even knew his name or what book he was talking about.  And once, because of something I wrote, someone sent me an email when they were in great distress, and my subsequent actions saved their life.  That I became aware of those effects was a great blessing for me, but much of the good we do in life yields no effects that we see.

In Luke 16, the rich man didn’t care if Lazarus couldn’t get his food scraps --- what does it matter? --- but then Lazarus was in heaven and the rich man wasn’t --- and he begged Lazarus for even a drop of water.  Then he begged Lazarus to tell his brothers so they understood that their actions DO matter; they matter eternally. 

Another rich man made a large donation at temple, and a poor woman gave only two pennies ---- but God had seen that she had given more. 

It seems that more than ever people are saying that everything is relative; there is no truth.  What does it matter?  The Gospels don’t matter. But Jesus died for the truth.  His death mattered.  We must have faith.

We want to see the immediate effect of what we do, or else we think it doesn’t matter.  Sometimes it takes a long time before we see the effect of our actions, and sometimes only God sees them.  But if we live as Jesus died to show us how to live ---- love God; love your neighbor --- we can have total faith that our actions, our thoughts, our prayers do matter.  He said so.  I’m afraid many who stop doing good, who stop believing, who stop living a moral life will find themselves at some point crying out for a drop of water when they finally see the effect on which they placed no importance, on the truth they couldn’t accept on faith.  What does believing in Jesus and living a Christian life matter?  We each will find out.  And the Divine Mercy prayer is most appropriate:  Jesus, I trust in You.

 

He Makes All Things Good

 

God makes all things good for those who trust in Him.

This past week was one of good news --- to counter the bad.  I and others have said that there is a good reason for the bad things which God permits to happen, or “God makes good out of the bad,” so we must trust in Him at all times.  W don’t always see that good, but this week I did, and so I thought I’d document some of God’s blessings.

Last year, due to the Covid shutdowns, I had no garden.  This year, I went to the nursery for plants and planted as usual.  Unlike some recent years, however, my garden now appears robust this year.  Tomato plants are tall and full of buds, and all the vine plants are climbing.  And yesterday I picked and then froze 5 quarts of large green beans --- the first picking.  I expect one or two more.  Two years of mulch on the ground, tilled in, made this year’s garden strong (all the rains helped, too, I’m sure).  I had new fencing put around the garden to protect it from hungry critters.  Having no garden last year made me sad, but this year is a joy that I just didn’t dwell on last year.  My trust was weak.

This past week my lawn man was trimming a small dead twig off a tree in my backyard, when suddenly the huge branch it was attached to came crashing down, narrowly missing him.  Further inspection showed that the tree had rot in a number of areas, and could be subject to falling in a windstorm.  Thirty foot high, the tree stands only 15 feet from my house.  And so, with much care, the tree was cut down by my lawn guy and a neighbor, who took the logs for his fireplace.  There remains a stump to cut down and dug out at some point, but a disaster was avoided.  Losing the tree after 40 years is bad news, but if it had fallen on the house, it would have been much worse.  I’m not sure what I’ll do about that spot; it’s an opportunity God gave me to show more of His blessings, perhaps with flowers, or maybe a statue of Mary.

Also, this past week, I was stopped by a police car.  My first ticket in 30 years!  The truck in front of me had paused at a stop sign and then quickly accelerated into a right turn, as if there were only a narrow gap in traffic.  So, I was also intent on getting into any gap in cross traffic, and so as I reached the stop sign, I glanced to the left as I was beginning to accelerate --- and was surprised to see no oncoming traffic.  And then looking ahead where I was going, I saw the police car on the shoulder as I passed it.  It didn’t remain on the shoulder, but quickly lit up and I pulled over.  “You didn’t come to a complete stop at the stop sign,” the officer said.  I had an inkling to justify myself by the actions of the truck in front of me, and ask why he wasn’t pulled over, but I kept quiet.  “Driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance, please” he said.  In passing I mentioned “I was just coming home from church.”  As I began getting the papers out of my wallet and glove box, I began to mumble to myself: “First ticket in 30 years.  It’s just the way this week is going.  I injured my hand, then my foot was diagnosed with some disease.  It’s just been a bad week.”  I really wasn’t talking to the cop, yet he said: “I won’t write you a ticket.”  I was too shocked to say thank you!  In my glove box, however, there were lots of older papers, but no current proof of insurance card.  This time I did speak to the cop: “I don’t understand; everything they mail me I put in the glove box without thinking, and I know I have insurance because I see the billing each month.”  I toss the cards in the glove box without thinking also, he said, and he went back to his car.  He came back and said: “Yes, you have insurance,” as he handed me my other papers. “Have a good day --- and come to complete stops at stop signs.”  And then I DID say: “Thank you, officer.  God bless your day.”  And driving home I realized that was 2 tickets I could have/should have gotten.  And I said “Thank you, Lord.”  All the bad things of my life were on my mind this week, but He showed me that He also makes good things happen.  We just need to trust.

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I  am supposed to visit a friend this afternoon.  She is in the final stages of cancer.  We plan a day at a time, and she takes extra pain pills, and then we talk and pray for a couple of hours, before she says “I think it’s time for you go.”  She is living her pain willingly --- she skipped any chemo treatments --- but she doesn’t want me to see her when the pain is worst.  She was the one I took to the adoration chapel a few weeks ago, and who cried greatly afterward, saying: “I can’t believe how much He loves us.”

She just called me and cancelled our meeting today.  “Tom, don’t come over.  I’ve called my son,” she said weakly and in obvious pain.  “I’ll try to call you later.”

He makes all things good for those who trust in Him.  She trusts in Him so much, perhaps more than anyone I know.  The good things I wrote of earlier were reminders to trust.  So is this woman’s faith.