Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from You.”

An inheritance that can't be quantified. What others leave us by their example, their way of living is certainly not something on which we can put a price or which we can weigh. More than that what others leave us (and, of course, by implication what we leave others) may often be of seemingly infinite value. Not only can we not measure it, we can hardly put it in words. We can begin to touch the fringes with words; we can say, for instance, that “Bob left me an example of steadiness and balance” or Kate “was a picture of lighthearted excitement.” With age and reflection we may be able to say that “Dad showed me, I see now, what it meant to be a person of his word.” But the overall gift another leaves us by example is incalculable.

The power and meaning of an example is by definition something that cannot be replaced by words no matter how much Kate or Dad may have told us of value. Similarly, what you or I do or don't do is having an impact on someone, some place, some time. Realizing that is self-defeating if we become paralyzed by the necessity of “giving others a good example.” Part of that example's effectiveness must come from the fact that it flows almost inevitably from our way of living and is not a show.

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!”

Reply to Fr. Don at: DTalafous@csbsju.edu

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