Word to the Wise
Wednesday, January 31, 2007 - feast of St. John Bosco (founder of the Salesians of Don Bosco)
[Hebrews 13:4-7, 11-15 and Mark 6:1-6]So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed. Strive for peace with everyone and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Oh my! Six days a week at the Sansbury Care Center I preach to a congregation of wonderful women - most of whom are well up into their 70's, 80's and 90's! One of them is 100 years old. It's a room full of drooping hands and weak knees. I can't wait to see the look on their faces at Mass when this scripture from Hebrews is read! Good thing they have (as far as I've been able to tell) a good sense of humor, because those drooping hands and weak knees are just a sample of some of the challenges they live with each day. Their steadfast faith in the face of those challenges is a constant inspiration to me. Those sisters have to work not only at the health care challenges of old age, but also, like all of us, they "strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness wihtout which no one will see the Lord." Now there we can learn from one another. As I grow older, I become very aware of the fact that "striving" does not get any easier. My work with college students over the years has continually edified me through the efforts of these young Christians to be truly faithful. They personify what St. Paul refers to when he speaks of "shining forth amidst a corrupt generation like stars in the sky." Here at St. Catharine's, I have the age range of 18-100 to provide examples. On all levels I am reminded that the striving for peace and holiness continues - it is a lifetime process. The elderly sisters and the energetic students become a "school of experience" for me. The "pep talk" from the Letter to the Hebrews keeps the task up front and clear for us! AMEN
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