CHURCH CHAT #5

 

"THE SQUEAKY WHEEL GETS THE GREASE"

 GIVEN AT THE LITTLE SISTERS F THE POOR 11-17-202

The people walking in front rebuked the blind man, telling him to be quiet, but he kept calling out all the more.

Luke 18:35

Today, we have one of my very favorite stories in all of Scripture. Both Mark and Luke tell this story about the healing of a blind beggar outside Jerico. Mark gives him a name - Bartimeus! He is a man who knows what he wants and is willing to jump any hurdles in his way to get at it! No wimpish sitting back wishing, waiting and whining for what he needs, he is willing to do whatever it takes to get what he needs! No hoping to be noticed! He makes sure he is noticed! Nobody’s “sit down and shut up” is going to stop him! For him it’s “jump up, shout and be sure you’re heard.” He is tired of being blind. He desperately wants to see! He has a burning faith in Jesus and he will not be held back either by his own reluctance or the obstacles others throw in front of him!

It is important to notice the words of Jesus here! These same words are often used in the miracle stories of the gospels. Jesus does not say, “Go I have healed you!” Rather he says to Bartimeus, “Go your faith has saved you!” In fact, there are failed healing stories in the gospel where Jesus could not work any miracles because of a person’s lack of faith.  It takes two for a miracle healing – the power of God and the faith of the one who asks for healing.

The one necessary ingredient, then, in all healing miracles is the strong belief that healing is possible. This strong faith triggers an abnormal acceleration of natural healing processes. This is true of all the healing shrines in all religions – it is the firm faith of the believer that unleashes God’s healing power.

Bartimeus can teach us something. Psalm 119 says, “God hates half-heartedness!” Very often we are ambivalent about what we say we want. Often, we hang onto our infirmities and losses because they give us convenient excuses for not getting on in life and doing the hard things involved in making it work. We say we want things to be different, but in reality, we are not so sure! Often, we actually do not want things to change all that much.

I am sure Bartimeus thought twice about whether he really wanted to see because he knew that when he was able to see he had to quit feeling sorry for himself, he had to give up depending on alms as a beggar and had to get a job for the first time in his life!

Miracles are possible in our lives, but miracles are different from magic! Magic is about sitting around wishing somebody else would make things happen to make us all better. Magic is waiting for a fairy godmother to come and wave her magic wand over us so we don’t have to do anything. For a miracle to happen, like Bartimeus, we have to get up, throw away the security blankets that we have wrapped ourselves in and be clear about what we want and be willing to go get it! We have to override the naysayer in our own heads and the naysayers who line to roads of our life. Wishing and magic waits for others to fix us. Really wanting something make us take action. God is willing to help those who are willing to help themselves.  Yes, we need to help the helpless, but we also need to encourage those who can help themselves to help themselves!

Friends! We can begin to work miracles in own lives by really wanting something different and really believing that what we want is possible, like Bartimeus. As Dale Carnegie once wrote, “Believe that you will succeed…believe it firmly and you will do what is necessary to bring it to success.” Jesus put it this way to Bartimeus, “Your faith has saved you!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ADVICE ON HOW TO KEEP FROM AGING - COLLECTED WISDOM

EIGHT BITS OF WISDOM AND A SUMMARY 

 

1. “Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young.”

Theodore Roosevelt

I believe in this so much that I actually taught a class to future priests about saving for retirement with their first check. I even gave them a $100.00 each to open an IRA, an Individual Retirement Account.  

2. “One day you will look back and see that all along you were blooming.” 

                                                                                       Morgan Harper Nichols

Back when I was working on my end-of-life plans and designing my tombstone, I took a lot of time to reflect on my life. When I was finished reflecting back, I decided on four simple words "simply amazed  - forever grateful." "Amazed" and "grateful" - that pretty much sums it up and, besides, it looks pretty good on a tombstone! 

3. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years on this planet, it’s that the happiest and most fulfilled people are those who devoted themselves to something bigger and more profound than merely their own self-interest.” 

                                                                   John Glenn

I think I was born for service. My first inkling of maybe becoming a priest was when I was six years old. I publicly announced it at seven years old. I entered seminary at age fourteen, was ordained at twenty-six and have served in ministry for fifty-five years so far. Even in retirement, I cannot stop serving. In my mid-seventies, I made twelve mission trips to the Caribbean. At eighty-one, I have helped build a church in Kenya and a house in Tanzania. At eighty-two, I plan to help a Tanzanian Bishop finish building a new grade school in 2026. I have already started working on it! 

4. “There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” 

                                                                  Sophia Loren

As I asked the people of the Cathedral when I arrived there to lead its parish revitalization and restoration, "Who says you only get one "golden age?" I am here to lead you to a second "golden age!" When I left there, I asked myself the same question. As a result, I have had a few more "golden ages" since then, even in retirement, because I believed in their possibility and did the work to help create them. 

5. “Old age is an excellent time for outrage. My goal is to say or do at least one outrageous thing every week.” 

                                                                                          Maggie Kuhn

One of the best things about old age is that you can say or write about anything and get away with it! I wrote a column every week for fifteen years in the local archdiocesan weekly, The Record. After that I started this blog, especially in retirement, I feel much freer to say what I feel than used to! What can they do to me now, fire me?

6. “If I had known I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself.”                                                                                  Anonymous

Actually, I have discovered in my old age that you can turn your weight and health around if you don't wait too long. My "New Year's Resolution" when I turned 80 was to get back to my ideal weight again through the daily use of my treadmill and watching what I ate. This time I summoned the discipline. At 81, I have reached my ideal weight and now I can fit well into a favorite jacket that I bought in Amsterdam when I was twenty seven years old and backpacking through Europe! This year, I lost over thirty pounds, six inches in my waist and I am holding!  

7. “The wiser mind mourns less for what age takes away than what it leaves behind.”                                                                         William Wordsworth

I am not one who yearns for the days of my youth. I don't want to go back. That was much too hard! I am more centered and peace-filled now than at any other time of my life. I only wish I had the body of youth and the mind of an experienced old man. If I had to choose, I would certainly choose the mind of an experienced old man. 

8. “Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.”                                                                             Anonymous

One of the things about old age, for me at least, is how fast time flies by in such a short time. It seems to me that every other day is a Thursday - time to get the weekend homily polished and ready to post on my blog. Even when someone mentions something from the recent past, I imagine it happened two, maybe three, years ago only to find out it was ten years ago! This odd awareness started back when I was a staff member at Saint Meinrad Seminary before my "retirement." I would ask them about something that happened "a few years ago" and they would respond, "Father, we don't know! We weren't even born yet!" 

SUMMARY 

How can you develop a positive mindset about aging?

First, you can start by shifting your focus from what you’re losing to what you’re gaining—wisdom, experience, and confidence. Second, you can surround yourself with inspiring people, keep learning new things, and embracing the opportunities that come with each stage of life.

Oprah Winfrey wisely said this, "We live in a youth-obsessed culture that is constantly trying to tell us that if we are not young, and we’re not glowing, and we’re not hot, that we don’t matter. I refuse to let a system or a culture or a distorted view of reality tell me that I don’t matter. I know that only by owning who and what you are can you start to step into the fullness of life. Every year should be teaching us all something valuable. Whether you get the lesson is really up to you.”

Maybe this is why some people have called me "an old lady magnet" - their sense of adventure! Maybe not all of them, but certainly the ones I enjoy the most!  

 

 

BE CAREFUL HOW YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE!

 

You do not know on which day your Lord will come. Stay awake! You must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

Matthew 24:37-44

Today, we have two two-word phrases about how to live! "Stay awake!" and “Be prepared!” I am very aware that I am bombarded every day with messages about how I ought to live, how I ought to think, what I ought to buy and what I ought to do. I try my best not to listen to most of those messages. So that I can freely and deliberately "take the road less traveled," I collect insightful quotations, wise sayings and other tidbits of wisdom and paste them everywhere in my house to remind myself that I am in charge of my own thinking, that I need not be a victim of what “everybody else is doing" or "what everybody else is thinking." I want to consciously control my own thinking and make my own decisions so that I do not end up unconsciously being a gullible "copycat" of what other people are doing and thinking. 

 

In my house, where I can see it often, is this George Bernard Shaw quote. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” This might not mean much to some of you, but for me it symbolizes the greatest breakthrough in thinking that I have ever had in my life. Until I was a junior in college, I used to believe that “life was something that happens to you and all you can do is make the most of it.” As a result, I ended up always being a “victim” - being what the same George Bernard Shaw called, “a selfish, feverish little clod of grievances and ailment complaining that the world would not get together to make me happy.” One day, in a flash of grace, it occurred to me quite clearly that "there was no rescue party out looking for me!" That day I made a clear, conscious decision to quit whining from the back seat of my own life and to get behind the wheel! I have told my story hundreds of times, but I also know that that every time I tell it, it always inspires someone to make a similar shift in their thinking. I am hoping that it will help someone here today who needs to make a shift in his or her thinking away from victimhood toward self-empowerment - to get a grip on themselves and quite waiting for a rescue party to come and magically “save” them!  

 

My fellow Catholics! The readings today are about the importance of building your life on a solid foundation, but before you can even consider what foundation you want to build on, you must understand and accept the fact that you are the builder of your own life! You are responsible for how your life turns out! If you build your life on the rock-solid foundation of sound thinking that leads to good choices, if you “get it” that life is about you creating yourself, you will most probably thrive! If, however, you build your life on the sand of weak thinking and lazy choices, you will surely doom yourself to the “swamps of regret” and the world of “might have beens!” 

 

Most of you are familiar with the monk, Thomas Merton. We have his library at Bellarmine University where I use to work as its longest serving campus minister. People come from far and wide to use that library and absorb his wisdom. Many of you may not be as familiar with the founder of his religious community, the Cistercians. Locally we call them “Trappists.” Their founder was a Benedictine monk named Bernard of Clairvaux. St. Bernard was a great reformer in the Church of the 12^th century. He might have died over 860 years ago, but his wisdom lives on and it is valuable even today – even for those of us in here today! He offers us four foundation pillars on which to build a good life based on the words of Jesus who said, “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit." If your life is to produce good fruit, St. Bernard says you must (a) consider yourself (b) consider those below you (c) consider those around you and (d) consider Him who are above you.  

 

(a) In considering yourself, St Bernard said, “Behold what you are! It is a monstrous thing to see such dignity trivialized and squandered!”  The first foundation stone on which to build a successful life is a passionate commitment to your own personal excellence – becoming the best version of yourself that you can become! I learned a little maxim in Latin many years ago which I have found to be so true.  “Nemo dat quad non habet” “One cannot give what one does not have.” Jesus said, “A bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” St. Francis de Sales said, “Be who you are and be that well!” In practical terms, if you are going to marry, be good at it, be a fabulous partner or don’t get married! If you are going to have kids, be good at it, be an effective parent or don’t have them! If you are going to go into public service, be good at it, be transparent, be honest and be self-giving or don’t get into it at all! If you are going to a priest, get serious about it or don’t get ordained! Be who you say you are! Be a person of integrity. Do the right thing even when no one is looking!  

 

(b) In considering those below you, you must never forget that the gifts you have been given have been given to you, not just for your own good and personal benefit, but for the good of the community! The second foundation stone on which to build a successful life is a passionate commitment to vocational excellence, to be the very best you can be at what you do!  This means a lifelong commitment to honing your skills, to deepening your respect and reverence for those under your charge and to always trying to lift the vision of others to higher sights, their performance to a higher standard and their personalities beyond their normal limitations.   Yes, become an example of who people want to follow! 

 

(c) In considering those around you, take stock of those with whom you surround yourself! The third foundation stone on which to build a successful life is to choose your friends and associates wisely. Many people do not realize the impact the type of people they surround themselves with has on their well-being. Our friends in AA know that part of becoming sober is not hanging out with drunks at bars! The people you surround yourself with will either lift you up or bring you down, support you or criticize you, motivate you or drain you. By developing relationships with those committed to constant improvement and the pursuit of the best that life has to offer, you will have plenty of company on your path to the top of whatever mountain you seek to climb. Remember, people who tell you what you want to hear are not necessarily your friends, just as those who tell you what you don’t want to hear are not necessarily your enemies. Surround yourself with people of integrity and quality. Do not hang out with lazy thinkers and undisciplined people! Instead of building you up, they will bring you down!    

 

(d) Last of all, in considering Him who is above you, never forget where you came from and where you are going. You have not always been here and you will not always be here! In the whole scheme of things, your lifespan is relatively short. The fourth and final foundation stone on which to build a successful life, therefore, is to develop an interior spiritual life to match your external material life, so that you can walk on two legs, not one! Statistically, marriages with God in them, for example, last longer and are happier. The same can probably be said of other vocations and professions. Awareness of God reminds us every day that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, that an amazing amount of invisible support is just a prayer away and that our lives have a point and a purpose beyond financial success! Don’t let organized religion’s many failures cause you to miss out on religion’s many positive contributions! Stay connected to your religion and be serious about that connection!   

 

My fellow Catholics! These four foundation stones, if built upon with care, focus and determination, make up the cornerstones of a good life, in whatever direction you go! Those who came before you have given you an excellent foundation on which to build! Now heed the words of Saint Paul, “Each one of you must be careful how he builds!” Remember the words of George Bernard Shaw, “Life is about creating yourself!” Regardless of your age, you still have the freedom and tools to make something of yourself! Rise to the challenge! What you do with the freedom and tools given to you is up to you! I pray that each of you will develop a passionate commitment both to “who you are” and “what you do!” I pray that you will seek to be good and good at it! For God's sake, decide today not to be guided by "what everyone else is doing and what everyone else is thinking!" Be better, reach higher, control yourself and remember these words from today’s gospel, “Stay awake! Be prepared! For at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come!" 

 HAPPY 53rd BIRTHDAY, MISSION-FRIEND!

Bishop Filbert Mhasi

Bishop of Tunduru-Masasi, Tanzania

We are in contact at least once a week, especially lately. He keeps praying and fasting that we will find at least some of the final $82,000 needed for his "just a little over half-finished Catholic grade school." I told him that I would let him know on Christmas Day where my fund-raising effort for this project stands. We both believe in miracles, but regardless, I will personally give as much as I can because I am fully convinced of how important this school is going to be to these kids' future lives! As I have learned, "I can't help everybody, but I can help somebody!"