Do you have friends or family who aren’t Catholic and challenge what you believe? I sure do and some of them can recite scriptures left and right. I don’t always have the right words to say or I’m just not up for the argument. I always seem to search for what to say or I avoid the topic altogether. But I just learned something this past month from my soon to be 10 year old son. Who said you can’t teach an old dog a new trick!
Here is the story of what I learned from him: It was Ash Wednesday and we were in a rush but I made sure that we went. As we went through Mass my son was fidgeting and asking, "How many more songs? Can we go yet?" I was getting pretty upset with him. After we had the ashes put on and got back to the pew, he was saying they itch and, again, "How many more songs?" Now I was getting really frustrated with him and told him, "Sit still; it’s almost done."
We left Mass in a rush because we had to get changed for cub scouts and our den meeting. We quickly ate and headed off. After we arrived a few boys started to pick on my son saying he had dirt on his forehead and things like that. You got it. He still had the ashes on! Then something changed. I notice my son reacting not in anger, but he just talked about the meaning of the ashes in his terms. He told the boys that it was the least he could do for Jesus who died on the cross for our sins. I was shocked to hear him say that to the other boys, none of whom are Catholic or very religious. They sat down and later Jake was talking to them about Duluth and the big ships being towed by much smaller tug boats. He explained that the tugboats are us and the bigger ship is Jesus as he follows us on our journey.
So if you were at Mass, that was a lot like the Homily that night. He was paying attention! My son told them about getting the ashes on his head and about returning to ashes someday. Later he went on to tell the boys that he receives Jesus every weekend from the Bread he gets at Mass. The boys didn’t pick on him anymore. They thought it was cool that he had ashes, for he made it sound like they were hot out of a fire and they then wanted some too.
So it occurred to me that when people want to challenge my faith I don’t need to hide, I can easily defend it by how I feel. I don’t need to recite the correct scripture or search for the perfect words, though that would help. I can just stick to what I know and try to lead by example and that should be good.
God Bless,
Jim
A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.
-- Proverbs 16:9
-- Proverbs 16:9
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