RBWords - Volume 33 - Number 1: January 2020
Something to Think About
When I was a first year law student (1963-64) I lived in a special dormitory for law students at Tulane. There was a popular television program on at the time called THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS! Every student in the dorm would gather in the TV lounge to watch it and laugh at the spoofs on the news of the past week. It was like a predecessor to Saturday Night Live. Well, I don’t know where I would start with the “year that was – 2020.” I imagine all of us will have our memories of that year, but the COVID-19 pandemic and the presidential election will likely be part of those memories. A painful memory for me was the sudden death of one of my two younger brothers (May 24) and my inability to travel to his funeral because of the pandemic. (FaceTime made a virtual attendance possible.) There will be for so many of us, COVID stories to tell. The stormy political stuff and the pandemic continue into 2021. At least there is vaccine for the virus; there’s no such thing for the political virus and its impact even on the leadership of our American Catholic church.
This edition of RBWORDS begins my 33rd year of sending it to friends as a means of staying connected and keeping up to date. Those 33 years began with my departure from a campus ministry in Hammond, LA, to Columbia, SC, San Antonio, TX, New Orleans, LA, (back and forth from NO to SA several times), Springfield, KY, Austin, TX, Houston, TX and now, Lubbock, TX. I will be marking 50 years of priesthood as a Dominican friar this coming May. Where has the time gone? As long as I can reach my keyboard, I’ll continue to send this. I’m always grateful for your readership! IT’S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
It Has Been Said
Often we want to be somewhere other than where we are, or even to be someone other than who we are. We tend to compare ourselves constantly with others and wonder why we are not as rich, as intelligent, as simple, as generous, or as saintly as they are. Such comparisons make us feel guilty, ashamed, or jealous. It is very important to realize that our vocation is hidden in where we are and who we are. We are unique human beings, each with a call to realize in life what nobody else can, and to realize it in the concrete context of the here and how. We will never find our vocations by trying to figure out whether we are better or worse than others. We are good enough to do what we are called to do. Be yourself!
Henri Nouwen, as excerpted in BREAD FOR THE JOURNEY – A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith.
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