Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - August 20, 2024
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
“Would you take my picture under that arch across the street?” said the man as he offered his camera to me, “I've never been in Chinatown before.” The excitement and wonder in his voice was refreshing to see in a somewhat portly middle-aged man. Right after I took the picture, he ran up the street, puffing a bit, to where his upscale car was parked illegally and took off. It seems to me much better if we go through life like a country bumpkin walking and gawking down the canyons of Manhattan than yawning in boredom.
A priest friend tells me how surprised, pleasantly surprised, he was when reading the Gospel about the beheading of John the Baptist at a convent Mass one day. As he came to the point where the head of John the Baptist is brought in on a platter, one of the sisters gasped in genuine horror. Unfortunately, that happens so little; we've become so used to the stories, to life itself. The horrors and marvels wash over us to no effect. But there is much to be amazed about; impressionable should be a favorable adjective to use of someone. Simply, the variety in all our fellow human beings is itself enough for amazement. Psalm 8 speaks to this: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name through all the earth!”
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!”
