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Sometimes we are blessed
to have a very special person pass through our lives. If we are even more
blessed, that person is an intimate part of our lives. That person teaches us by
word and example about life, about being a person, about being a Christian,
about being a child of God. That person teaches not so much by what she says.
Often it is by what she does not say. When tempted to criticize, to condemn, to
make a justified retort to an unjustified remark, she is silent. One never knows
why someone acts or reacts the way they do. Do not make their penance worse by
heaping coals on the fire. Just keep silent and in that silence pray for them. She teaches by example, a
living, breathing reminder of who we are and who we are meant to be. She does
not intend to teach. It is simply a natural response to the way she lives her
life. She does not intend to set herself up as an example of the godly life, but
she does because she is. She would never consider herself saintly because saints
are their own worst critics. But she is and she is. A person is so blessed to
have such a person as part of his or her life. I have been so blessed. That
person is my Mother who will celebrate her 90th birthday on Dec. 14.
My brothers and sisters and I, our spouses, our children, our extended family
and friends will gather to thank Mom for being our mother, our teacher, our
mentor, the living example of whom we could be if only we had watched and
listened and learned what she was teaching us just by being herself. A while back when Arlena
and I were visiting Mom, Arlena told her that she was the most Christian person
she ever met. Mom said nothing, as usual, to such praise. She just smiled and
patted her shoulder with her hand. When Arlena asked her what that gesture
meant, Mom said, “It’s my mother. She is always sitting on my shoulder.”
When our daughters were teenagers and were going out to have a good time with
their friends, our parting words were, “Don’t do anything you can’t tell
your parents about.” I suspect they did. I do not think my Mom ever did even
though her children like her grandchildren also did. Any conversation anyone
has with Mom will eventually get around to her favorite subject: the poor, the
hungry, the sick, those who have no one and whom no one cares about: the last,
the least, the lost and the lonely; and the injustice of it all. That is, if the
conversation does not begin there. Mom does all she can for such people: she
prays daily for them, many times a day. She does not understand why so few have
so much and so many have so little and it truly concerns her. When she asks me
why all this needless suffering, I have no answer. But I do: if we would all be
like her, willing to live with less so that those who have nothing could have
something, then much of a load would be lifted from her shoulders and the world
would be a better place. I know I am a better person, and truly blessed, because
of her. God bless you always, Mom. You, more than anyone I know, deserve. WJP |