Bread of Life

• The Catechism
• Patron Saints
• Papal History
• Stations of the Cross
• Catholic Prayers
• Wkly Word Archives
• Return to St. Joe's

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~

I have a little stone with a saying carved into it that says, “Good listeners get to Heaven.”

This little saying has been on my mind a lot lately. I’ve spent some extended time, over the last couple of months, with several different groups of people that I know. I’ve had a chance to watch their interactions with each other, in situations where I can observe and not be conspicuous while doing so.

I noticed when these people are talking with each other their voices become louder and louder depending on the length of the conversation. From an outsider’s point of view they would think that they are arguing instead of just talking. I know these people well and can give my opinion to them without causing a problem. Each group was surprised when I said that they sounded hostile and didn't even listen to each other. That they’d talk louder and louder to be able to stop the other from speaking and thus make themselves heard. They believed they were carrying on normal conversations.

Somehow, these people have lost the ability to let others speak before they want to begin their thoughts or views. One group had a small child mixed in with them. Whenever this child needed anything or wanted to talk, he would just scream. Everyone thought this was normal and ignored him until he had repeated what he was screaming about 4 or 5 times. I watched this happen one day, until I got the child the food he wanted. When the mother saw this she said “oh thank you but you didn’t have to do that I would have gotten it for him if he had asked me.” When I said he’d asked about 5 times she was shocked and said she didn’t hear him. The mother was standing about 4 feet from the boy talking to 4 other people, all of whom were conversing at screaming levels but they were not fighting. I thought of this child having to go to school in a year or two and wondered how he’d ever do in a classroom.

Webster’s dictionary says the definition of “Listen” is, to pay attention to sound, to hear with thoughtful attention, to be alert to catch an expected sound.

The “to hear with thoughtful attention” has all but been disregarded. Maybe we all need to have a lesson in listening. It’s sad that these people cannot hear each other but what happens when we’re to “BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.” If they can’t listen to each other how will God be heard in their heart?

I want to remember the stone carving – Good listeners get to Heaven. Jesus please help me to be a good listener.

URLVD

If you would like to comment on any article written or would like to contact one of our writers, please feel free to do so my filling out the simple form below. If you would also like to submit some sort of spiritual writing of your own, please feel free to let us know, we'd love to place your writing right here along with our regular writers. Thank you!