Friday, February 25, 2011

Leaving no trace

The janitor came by today to empty my trash can ... but he only found a small scrap of paper (one) in the can.  Whereas some days I spend the entire day sitting at the desk and doing paperwork, today was a different day. 

Today I spent the morning with a family who is mourning ... celebrating the Funeral Mass for their mother.  Once that was done, and the crowd had disbursed, I then spent another half hour with those who came to celebrate the noon eucharist, and to pray before the exposed Blessed Sacrament: a moment of rest and reflection in the midst of a sometimes hectic day.

Once the liturgical life was celebrated, I accepted the invitation of the grieving family to share lunch with them, and then returned just in time to prepare for two more meetings in the afternoon.

Jesus didn't spend any time sitting at a desk, and I doubt whether he ever wrote much with ink.  Instead, he spent the vast majority of his public life (and probably a good bit of his private life too) with other people.  He listened to them, he told stories, he helped them to appreciate and to experience the Father's love.  Isn't that what all of us are supposed to do?

Some days there's not much trash in the garbage can, but there are lots of other things going on.

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