Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - May 30, 2024
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
The fellow is tending the coffee shop counter. We start talking about the interest and beauty of the city. It comes up that I am in the city for a month, part of my sabbatical. What do I teach, he asks? I answer him by saying it's something unusual, you might never have heard of. He says, “Theology?” I'm amazed at his guess; has decades of teaching Theology so marked – or disfigured – my face? He says he took several courses in World Religions, Old Testament in college. Very interested in theology.
He adds: “I'll have to ask you some tough theological question before you leave.” I say: “Oh, oh, maybe I better get the check.” He gets it for me and says very sincerely: “Give me a bit of wisdom, something to think about.”
I recall a line from a writer who as a child of ten had come home to find his mother murdered. Asked in later years about how he has coped with this, he replied, as if to distill his wisdom: “The abandonment of self-pity is the beginning of wisdom.” I give him this. He says: “Wow, that really fits me right now!” (He feels a BA should earn him more rewarding work.)
Before I leave he asks me to repeat the phrase. I do; he writes it down and I leave feeling very useful. I have met so many people who respond similarly. Don't most of us have to face a decision at some moment: should I keep a list of self-pitying memories of injury, loss, unjust treatment, disappointment, hurt, or can I move on to live my life in a more positive and generous spirit?
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
