USEFUL WISDOM FOR 2024 #15

 

 

IT'S BABY GEESE SEASON ON THE CONDO POND

ONE COUPLE LOST THEIR BABIES

Due to an unfortunate location to put her nest, this mother had three eggs (one more than in the photo) that were not able to hatch because a cat or other animal got to them and even destroyed the nest. 

ONE COUPLE WERE LUCKY TO HAVE FIVE BABIES TO MAKE IT

This mother was able to hatch five of her eggs and was out showing them around. However, I only saw them one day. Maybe they are hiding away and will show up again or maybe they were victims of other animals? 

                             

LOOKING FOR A QUIET RETREAT HOUSE IN A BEAUTIFUL PLACE?

FATHER PATRICK McNICHOLAS GUEST HOUSE AT SAINT THERESA CHURCH

Rhodelia, Kentucky

ST. THERESA OF AVILA CHURCH

9245 Rhodelia Rd 

Payneville, KY 40157

Office Phone: 270-496-4362

Office Fax: 270-496-4416

Email: sttheresa@bbtel.com

Office Hours

Tuesday and Thursday 8:30 am – 4:30 pm

Kathy Shacklett, Office Manager 

MAGNANIMITY: IGNORING INSULTS AND THOUGHTS OF REVENGE

GIVEN AT THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR HOME FOR THE AGED

2-19-2024

Be holy for I your God am holy!

Leviticus 19:1-2

Today, in both the first reading from the Book of Leviticus and the Gospel of Matthew (25:31-46), we are presented with powerful lists of what is required to be “holy” in imitation of God’s “holiness.”  Both readings center on eliminating those things in our lives that do not lift up, encourage and assist the suffering of this world. Holiness is presented, not in worshipping God, as much as it is as service to others, especially the poor – in loving God’s people as much as God loves them! This is how to “be holy as he is holy!”

One of the most useful insights I have ever stumbled across was one from the Nazi concentration camp survivor, Victor Frankl, in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning. He wrote these deeply meaningful and truly useful words: “Everything can be taken away from a man but one thing — the ability to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”

We cannot always control what happens to us or around us, but we can choose how we want to respond. Things do not always work out. People divorce. Employees need to be fired. Children break our hearts. Friends let us down. Parents fail at parenting. In a world where revenge, vindictiveness, reciprocation, retribution and retaliation seem to be the most typical responses, we can train ourselves to respond differently.

Today, I would like to talk about the virtue of magnanimity, meaning to be generous in forgiving, eschewing resentment or revenge, and being unselfish and other-focused. The word comes from two Latin words: magna, meaning great, and animus, meaning soul or mind. Being magnanimous means being “big minded” or “great souled.” It has nothing to do with who is right or who is wrong. It simply means to freely choose to be “noble” regardless of who is right and who is wrong.

It is really about “making a good response” by choosing to be “big minded” or “great souled” regardless. Magnanimity is possible only for those who are not addicted to being right and who do not have a burning need to be faultless.

In life, we come face to face with unexpected circumstances, people who let us down and things that do not turn out the way we want them to be. Misunderstandings, human mistakes, bitter disappointments and shattered dreams are actually part of normal living. The more important thing to remember in those circumstances is that what happens is often not nearly as important as how we choose to react to what happens.

It takes magnanimity to go through a divorce without bitter vindictiveness and revenge. This is especially true when children are involved. In such cases, we might not be able to teach them about the permanence of marriage, but we can teach them about how to be civil, gracious and respectful with adversaries. It is as much of a gift to oneself as it is to the other, because it takes too much energy to carry a grudge.

It takes magnanimity to forgive an ungrateful or hurtful child, an angry Sister or a hostile resident and treat them well without being bitter, resentful, caustic and hostile. All the time and energy it takes to nurse wounds that we would as soon not heal is ultimately self-punishing anyway. It takes magnanimity to forgive someone and make the first move toward reconciliation without needing to exact an apology. That is noble indeed. Taking the high road of humility is not a bad road to take for a human relationship worth saving.

BELIEVING IN A "RESURRECTED" BODY

 

Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have." While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.

Luke 24:35-48

Well, I am going to dive into some deep water today for sure! I will do my best and I hope it makes sense to some of you. I am pretty sure I will be in over my head, but that has never stopped me before, so here I go - again!

We say in the Apostles Creed that we "believe in the resurrection of the body." (In the Nicene Creed, "the resurrection of the dead.") Do we really believe that? If so, what does that mean? What will we look like when we are resurrected? Will we look like we do now, look different from before or look about the same? (I, for one, hope that I have lost some weight and have been though some kind of heavenly plastic surgery - either that are people won't notice details things like "old, fat and ugly" when they get to heaven!)

We get a glimpse of what our resurrection bodies will be like when we read several of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances in the weeks following Easter, especially in today's meeting in the upper room. Risen from the dead, we are told that Jesus still had visible wounds and His disciples could physically touch him, yet he was able to travel effortlessly and appear and disappear at will. He could go through walls and doors and yet he could also eat and drink, sit and talk. Scripture informs us in the Letter to the Philippians (3:21) that our “lowly bodies” will be "just like his glorious body." Indeed, the physical limitations that hinder our ability to fully serve him on earth will be gone forever, freeing us up to praise, serve and glorify him for all eternity.

Our current bodies are characterized by weakness and debility. They are undeniably fragile and susceptible to the plethora of diseases that ravage humankind. However, one day our bodies will be raised in power and glory and we will no longer be subject to the flaws and fragility that pervade our bodies today.

Our "resurrected body" will be a spiritual body with recognizable natural features. Our natural bodies are suited for living in this physical world. After the resurrection we will have a “spiritual body,” perfectly suited for living in heaven. This does not mean that we will only be spirits—spirits do not have bodies—but that our resurrected bodies will not need physical sustenance or depend on natural means of supporting life here on earth.

Knowing "how" this will be is our problem. The "how" this will be exceeds our imaginations and understanding. It is accessible only through faith which makes it so hard to believe in our "scientific" and "material" world! This teaching implies that, after death, we will be in an "in-between" state - somewhere in between a physical body and a spiritual body. I can't prove that, but I am open to it in faith. As I was trying to imagine this reality, what came to mind in that inscription found on the cellar wall in Germany during the Holocaust. "I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when I cannot feel it. I believe in God even when he is silent." That quote reminds me of a serious basic truth. We believe a lot of things we cannot prove, see or touch! We only believe them because we trust the one who told us that they are true! I realize that I am going to have to trust Jesus on this one!

If you can’t believe in any of what I have tried to say, you will have to dismiss the Doctrine of the Assumption that tells us that Mary was assumed into heaven “body and soul.” If you can’t believe in any of what I have tried to say, you will have to dismiss all the apparitions of Mary who supposedly could be seen, talked to, have her clothes, hair and facial features described by those she appeared to and who was here one minute and gone the next, only to return over several days: Our Lady at Lourdes in France; Our Lady at Fatima in Portugal; Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico; on and on around the world!

Will we be able to recognize our loved ones in the next life? I can't prove it, but I can accept it because the disciples, we are told, recognized and spoke to Jesus in his resurrected body. I can't prove it, but I open to believing it because I watched my mother speak to her dead brothers and sisters at the foot of her bed as she was dying - none of her living brothers and sisters, just those who had already passed from this life! She said she recognized them, one by one, standing there and clearly seemed to have communicated with them. Had they come in their resurrected bodies to welcome her to heaven? Maybe so! Maybe so!

I am neither overly pious nor easily gullible, but I am “open” to realities that I have never experienced personally. I can’t prove they exist and I have never experienced them myself, only heard about it, but I remain open to the possibility of “glorified bodies,” somewhat spiritual and somewhat physical, that the Scriptures describe for us today!

Jesus appeared to them and said, "Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have." While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.