Parades

This Sunday's Gospel reading will be Luke 14:1, 7-14.  The upshot of the reading is that we should always place others first.  And if you do put others first, you will be repaid at the resurrection.  I recommend you read the reading.  It's a powerful lesson. 

Now, I'm going to put aside most of the debate about whether we are justified to God by: A) our faith or, B) by our good acts.  I tend to think that we are justified to God simply because God created us, and the way we respond to that love is by treating each other well.  

But my message today is more about honoring those women and men who have been examples of this love, examples of putting others first.  

At the retirement party for long-time caretaker of St. Brigid's School, Bob Martella, I gave a speech where I spoke about how Bob always acted in that way.  I spoke about how he always put others first, and raised up the students not for his benefit but for theirs.

Let's look to people like Bob and try to follow that lead.  My message is just that.  

Because if the world was right, there would be parades for people in New York City because they were selfless, not because they can hit a 93-mile-an-hour slider. 

There would be parades for the single mothers who went without what they wanted so their children could have more.  There would be parades for nuns who live in the most depressed areas of the world so children can have more of what they needed, though the nuns themselves are often underappreciated.  There would be parades for dads who took time in the middle of the day to see their kid's play, rather than going out to lunch with co-workers.  There would be parades for adult children who took care of parents with dementia.  There would be parades for the granddaughter who held her grandmother's hand in the hospital when the grandmother didn't even know the granddaughter was there.  There would be parades for police officers who step in front of bullets.  There would be parades for correction officers who manage mercy and kindness in a cold prison.  There would be parades for priests who put aside much of their lives and personal aspirations.  There would be parades for checkout clerks at Target who took an extra second to understand that a kind look toward a weary customer might be the only act of kindness the customer would receive all day. There would be parades for politicians who did the right thing to the detriment of their re-electability.

And on, and on, and on.  Take a minute and think of all the people like that who bless your lives.  

God bless you.