What's in a Name

 

When I was a youngster and in school, the school had a dress code, and the boys were required to wear a white shirt and black tie every day.  Because it was the rule, we never thought much about it.  It “just was” what we had to do.  Looking back, I can see that rule had many benefits, among which was our lack of envy over what someone else was wearing --- or not wearing.  No one wore expensively rich clothes, or extremely poor clothes, to reflect their financial background.  It was one less thing for children to worry about in school. 

Envy is not considered a sin anymore by our culture; it is promoted like a virtue.  It is promoted as a way “to move you forward,” to encourage you to do better things, “like those rich people do.”  What is rarely spoken of, however, is that everyone is not able to move forward.  Many lack the intelligence, the looks, or the money to “do better things.”  And envy only creates sadness for some and their situation, a depression which is now so common in our culture.  And envy encourages further sinful actions to try to make happen what we lack the ability to virtuously make happen.  We lie, we cheat, we steal, to be like the others whom we envy. 

We can change our life situation.  I was taught as a youngster: you can have anything you want, if you just go out and work for it.  That “Protestant work ethic” as it was sometimes called, limited what I strove to achieve to what I knew I could achieve with my talents and abilities. 

I don’t recall that I ever had much envy of anyone else or their situation in life.  And in recent years I find that I expect even less for myself.  I am easily content with my life’s situation and, if anything, worry more about using my life as God would wish, and being the person He created me to be.  Recently, I was reminded of this situation when I took some clothes to be cleaned.

I spilled some juice on my sport coat on last week and so took the coat to the cleaners the next day --- but the stores I knew of were now closed, as were a couple of others I was aware of.  I called a friend who thought there was one at a particular intersection in town, and when I went there, I found “OK Cleaners”.  The “OK” on the sign seemed almost hand-written, and the small, plain store was run by an immigrant family.  In addition to my coat cleaning need, I also took some pants which needed shortening (I’m growing smaller in my old age.).  To my surprise, he said to put a pair on, “behind that curtain”.  And he pointed to a simple curtain there in front of the store.  There was no “changing room.”  I did so, and then he measured to determine what needed to be done.

I went back and picked up those clothes today, which were ready --- and reasonably priced.  I also took in my old winter coat for cleaning, since the worst of Michigan winter now appears over, and I had worn that coat every day of the winter.  He pointed to the frayed sleeve cuffs, and I said: “that’s okay.”  That’s just part of my not worrying about impressing anyone, but he nodded and still said “try it on please.”  I did, and he showed me that he could easily re-do the sleeve to hide the fraying, and I said to do so.

This morning, I was driving home from church, and I was stopped at the intersection where the OK Cleaners store stood, far back from the road, almost not visible.  I turned the corner and then, to my surprise, I saw another cleaning store only a block away.  This one was right on the road and named “Touch of Class” cleaning, and it had a fancy sign and advertised that it did custom cleaning.  Then I thought how the two stores now mirror what’s important in my life versus what is important in the culture.  One promotes a touch of class, so you will be envied.  The other just says we’ll make things okay. 

I just want to live a life that is not focused on self, not one to be envied.  I think that is what I was taught as I grew up, and our culture is now so far away from.  My name is Tom, nothing fancy about it, and in fact it is a name chosen in memory of someone else who was a saint, a rare person, and it is he who should be envied.  I am no saint. I am content to be just okay, if that is what God created me to be.      

Humble St. Peter

 

I read the reflections in the book The Better Part on the Gospel for the Friday after Easter.  The Gospel was John 21:1-14, about Jesus (after His Resurrection) appearing on the shore and calling out to Peter and others who had just spent the night fishing and caught nothing.  He said to cast their net over the side, which Peter did, and they caught a huge amount of fish.

The reflection on this Gospel notes that 3 years earlier, when Peter first met Jesus, a similar situation occurred, but not before Peter argued some with Jesus about their catching nothing.  This time, however, Peter just tossed the net out; it was a Peter who was much less prideful than the earlier one.  (It’s also the same Peter who had denied Jesus 3 times after he said he’d never do that.)  These reflections in The Better Part humbled me:

“Christ only asks one thing from us, our trust…. Humility is the hardest but most necessary lesson that every Christian apostle has to learn.  Many times, we wonder why God permits so many hardships and failures in our lives.  Many times he does so because it’s the only way we will learn that we are limited, that we are not God.  If we work hard and then throw our out nets wherever Christ tells us to, he will surely never leave us empty-handed.”

 

“Jesus: Begin again as many times as necessary….  Begin again in your efforts to follow me, to be like me, to build my Kingdom, in your attempts to repair broken relationships, to succeed where you have already failed, to form virtue where you have vice --- in all these things, you will need to begin again.  And though it may seem that you are starting from scratch each time, as it seemed to Peter, you’re not.  Each time you trust me after a failure, all the important virtues (humility, faith, hope, love) are stronger.

If ever you feel discouraged when you should just be dusting yourself off and beginning again, I can guarantee that your discouragement doesn’t come from me.  I came not to condemn, but to save.  My love for you doesn’t depend on your impeccability--- in fact, it doesn’t depend on anything.  My love for you is total, a waterfall that never stops flowing.  You can always begin again.”

 

“I have to be honest, Lord: humility is a mystery to me.  I keep thinking I’m humble, mainly because I see so many people who are more arrogant or vain than I am, but then you remind me that I’m not really humble yet.  Make me humble!  Give me the docility I need so that I can give you a chance to fill my nets with hundreds of fish!  Please do, Lord, all I long for is to be your faithful and fruitful apostle.

How can I help feeling discouraged?  Lord, I will never give in to discouragement again.  Maybe I can’t help feeling the emotion, but when I do, you will remind me that it doesn’t come from you, that with you I can always begin again, and that you can bring good even out of the worst failures, the worst evils.  Thy will be done, Lord; I trust in you ….” 

- - - - - - - - - -

I will be thinking and praying about those reflections for many days.  Peter was made head of Christ’s church on earth, despite all his failures and lack of humility.  But he didn’t give up; and he trusted in God.  How often when things are not going my way do I rant and rave, rather than trust?  “How can I help feeling discouraged?”  I will remember those words, and your promise.

St. Isidore

 

I grew up in Blue Island, Illinois, attending St. Isidore’s church and elementary school, taught by the Felician Sisters.  With the passing of time, that church and school have been closed, but I will never forget the lessons I learned there, on how to live as a Catholic, and as a man of God.

St. Isidore’s feast day is celebrated on April 4^th.  He was a bishop of Seville, Spain in the early 6^th century, and was named a doctor of the Catholic Church for his astute wisdom and holiness.  In my readings for that day, I read these words from the Book of Maxims by Saint Isidore; they are worth reading again:

 

Prayer purifies us, reading instructs us.  Both are good when both are possible.
 Otherwise prayer is better than reading.

If a man wants to be always in God’s company, he must pray regularly and read regularly.  When we pray, we talk to God, when we read, God talks to us.

All spiritual growth comes from reading and reflection.  By reading we learn what we did not know; by reflection we retain what we have learned.

Reading the holy Scriptures confers two benefits.  It trains the mind to understand them; it turns man’s attention from the follies of the world and leads him to the love of God.

Two kinds of study are called for here.  We must first learn how the Scriptures are to be understood, and then see how to expound them with profit and in a manner worthy of them.  A man must first be eager to understand what he is reading before he is fit to proclaim what he has learned.

The conscientious reader will be more concerned to carry out what he has read than merely to acquire knowledge of it.  For it is a less serious fault to be ignorant of an objective than it is to fail to carry out what we do know.  In reading we aim at knowing, but we must put into practice what we have learned in our course of study.

No one can understand holy Scripture without constant reading, according to the words: Love her and she will exalt you.  Embrace her and she will glorify you.

The more you devote yourself to a study of the sacred utterances, the richer will be your understanding of them, just as the more the soil is tilled, the richer the harvest.

Some people have great mental powers but cannot be bothered with reading; what reading could have taught them is devalued by their neglect.  Others have a desire to know but are hampered by their slow mental processes; yet application to reading will teach them things which the clever fail to learn through laziness.

The man who is slow to grasp things but who really tries hard is rewarded; equally he who does not cultivate his God-given intellectual ability is condemned for despising his gifts and sinning by sloth.

Learning unsupported by grace may get into our ears; it never reaches the heart.  It makes a great noise outside but serves no inner purpose.  But when God’s grace touches our innermost minds to bring understanding, his word which has been received by the ear sinks deep into the heart.

 

I don’t have to say, but obviously the underlines are mine, as in my prayer book.  And it was only minutes after I read the above that I read this also:  I shall place my law in their hearts; I shall be their God, and they will be my people.

I had much to reflect upon that night in the chapel.  And I prayed to St. Isidore.