Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - January 10, 2025
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from You.”
The eighty-five-year old man, nearly blind and very slow and tentative on his feet, still dreams of doing the things he did only fifteen years ago. Attendants have a hard time persuading him that his willing spirit is not matched by similar energy and power in the body. With Emerson: “Within, I do not find wrinkles and used heart, but unspent youth.” Simply from a non-professional viewpoint it seems that it would be good to encourage and feed all the “unspent youth” in ourselves and others.
Frequently one can be surprised by the innovative and radical thinking of people from whom we might expect a pretty straight-laced rigidity. For some, old age with its indifference to public opinion is an invitation to more frankness and fearlessness in speaking one's mind and heart. It's good if we can entertain and encourage some of this freedom and exuberance of heart even while we're younger and more enmeshed in society's trammels. Caution undoubtedly serves some careers and self-interest but exuberance and buoyancy certainly brighten daily life.
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!”
