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He Gave His Only Son

"Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

John 21:29

• There should be less talk. A preaching point is not a meeting point.


• The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved-- they are Jesus in disguise.


• In the West there is loneliness, which I call the leprosy of the West. In many ways it is worse than our poor in Calcutta. (Commonweal, Dec 19, 1997)


• It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.


• The poor give us much more than we give them. They're such strong people, living day to day with no food. and they never curse, never complain. We don't have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them.


• I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?


• I do not pray for success. I ask for faithfulness.


• Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.


• If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

~Mother Teresa~

For several years now I've been trying to get my best friend from high school back to church. We went to a Catholic school together and have always shared our faith verbally with each other. Long in deep talks, sometimes heated, but always with love. Like a lot of us she quit going to church during the college years. After we married and had children I thought she'd come back but she still hasn't. When I had my daughter I asked her husband to be her God Father. I thought this would be an opening to get them back to church but it didn't work. A couple of years ago I got her to come to a celebration where many of my church friends were gathered, I thought that would be another way for her to see the happiness and love of our community, again no success.

Then along came Deacon David, he told me that his first Mass would be celebrated in the city where he grew up and it also is where they live. I felt it was a gift from the Holy Spirit. I knew if I was going up to Welches for Mass that they'd join me in a heartbeat. And yes, when I asked there was no hesitation, she agreed right away. I thought this is perfect, if I get her into the church and the Eucharist is right there before her she'll see what she has been missing. We talked several times in the last few weeks and each time she said she was looking forward to it.

Today I got a call from her husband, he could hardly talk he was so upset. It was the call I didn't want to happen. He said they'd have to cancel for tomorrow on the Mass. It is so disturbing to me how the wrong powers are freely working in this world, time and time again. Last night 3 of their son's best friends were killed in a horrible automobile accident. They were beside themselves in grief. As I talked with my friend, she cried and said she didn't know what to do. How would she distract her son from this grief? I gently said that church would be the best place to go. She adamantly said no, not for her family, the customs and tradition of Mass might be all right for her to handle but would be too much for her family who knew nothing about them. I wanted to cry right then, she continued on to say that their hearts were hurting so badly, they just needed to be together to comfort each other. I knew if I pushed further she would get upset so I said I understood and asked what else I could do to help?

Why are the blessings of God so hard for people to receive? As Fr. John said in his homily tonight, "We are chosen by God, He is the greatest love story of all time. We need to open our hearts to that."