The World of Grandpa Don

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We Can Do What We Can

The homily of a visiting priest, Fr Len Husk, struck a cord in my heart. The Gospel of the day related the story of the man who entrusted various sums of money to servants and then upon his return from a long trip received and accounting of their actions. One servant, in fear of loosing the small sum, hid it away and returned it in full. 

The point was that God doesn't give us talent and abilities without the expectation that we use them. In addition to these we have His Grace and the knowledge of God. We are expected do do what ever we can with whatever we have, be it great or small, to further the cause of God, ... to help build His kingdom.

Fr Len went on to relate a story of St Therese of Lisieux, "The Little Flower", who became a nun as a teen. There was an old nun in the convent who was a crotchety, complainer. (Nuns are human too.) The other nuns avoided her (very human) but Therese decided that she would go out of her way to be kind to this woman. After some time, the old nun approached Theresa and said, "I know you like me while nobody else does. What is it about me that you like?" The answer is not known.

The fact is that Therese is a saint because she did the little things. She did what she could. She didn't' work miracles during her lifetime and she didn't found a great order of religious women. She wasn't good to the old nun because of anything the nun was or did. She did it because she could ... and because of who she was.

After Mass, I waited until Fr. Len was alone and I thanked him for reinforcing my faith. I gave him one of my cards, the one with the motto, "Be a little nicer than you need to be". 

Don't be nice to people because of anything they did, or did not do. Be nice to them because of you. Don't let the bad temper or negativity of another person govern the kind of person you can be. It feels good to  be kind. It gives satisfaction to respond to grumpiness or even rudeness with a good deed or pleasant response. I think the good feeling may be a small token of God's reward for your actions. And, it may cause the other person, like the grumpy old nun in the story, to ponder the reasons for your action. It may change them for the better. 

I am certainly not a saint, but "being a little bit nicer than I need to be" is something I can do. I hope it is contagious. Let's all try it!

Don Plefka
11/19/02

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