The World of Grandpa Don

At the start of his homily, Fr Steve told the story of the time that the gate between Heaven and Hell broke. St Peter called to the devil to let him know that according to their agreement, it was his turn to fix it. The devil replied, "Fix it yourself!" St. Peter said that if the devil breaks the agreement, Heaven would sue Hell. The devil replied, "Where are YOU going to find a lawyer?"

The homily went on to explain that the people of Jesus home town were guilty of discrimination when they stereotyped Him as being as "earthly" as they were. They said He was just like them. Just like we lump all the lawyers together in Hell. Both are instances if discrimination, assuming someone is something, dishonest, simple, whatever, only based on that person's origins or race or associations.

But, I'll carry it a step further. We do the same thing to ourselves! We do not try to bring fourth our own spirituality because we stereotype ourselves as being incapable of spirituality. "We are only human", we say. So why try. We are just like everyone else. Why pretend to be better than everyone else, better than we are, better than we are capable of being.

That is, if we think about it, contradictory. When wealth, power, and influence are concerned, we are always trying to be better than the next guy. But not so in regard to morals and spirituality. Oh yes, I forgot, ... we are only human.

But, we are not "only human". We were created in the image and likeness of God. How could we forget such a thing? We do our fellow man and ourselves a disservice when we discriminate against them and ourselves. Just because we are human does not mean that we can not strive for perfection.

What would have happened (or not happened) if no one believed that a human could run a mile in 4 minutes? Or if everyone accepted as impossible a machine that could fly? The list, of course goes on. Something challenges us to attempt to exceed the set limits and those who will not accept those arbitrary limits exceed them.

Jesus challenges us in like manner. We can be better than we are. It is possible to forgive each other and ourselves. It is possible to be kind and caring. We are not only challenged, but we are given the strength and guidance of the Holy Spirit. All we need to do is recognize and accept the task.

And then, stop discriminating against ourselves by thinking we are inferior to the challenge.  Help stamp out self discrimination.

Go ahead and strive to be saintly. That is the goal set by God.

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(Also see Style or Substance)

Don Plefka
July 7, 2003