by Father Mark Goldasich
“For a shared mission.”
Did you know each month Pope Francis makes a short video, available online at: vaticannews.va? It highlights a particular intention he’d like all of us to join in on. In October, we’re to reflect on how we give witness to our faith with our life.
The pope reminds us that all Catholics — not only priests or religious Sisters and Brothers — have a responsibility to care for our “home” — not only our family home, but our “home” of the church and our wider “common home,” this world where we live.
In the video, Pope Francis says that “bus drivers, farmers, fishers” — in other words, everyone — are called to contribute “what they know how to do best.” Each person has been given talents that are meant to support and enrich others. This is one of the things the pope means when he speaks of “synodality,” that is, “journeying together as the people of God.”
Can little things make a difference, though? I’ll let you judge for yourself as you read this story:
A man hitchhiked from coast to coast in the United States. Many times, however, he was forced to walk miles and miles in the process. A newspaper reporter asked the man what he found hardest to endure.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t the steep mountains or the dazzling sun or the torrential rains or the scorching desert heat that troubled him most. Instead, the hitchhiker said, what drove him crazy was “the sand in my shoe.” (Adapted from a story in Anthony Castle’s “A Treasury of Quips, Quotes & Anecdotes for Preachers and Teachers.)
Little things can have a big impact. Think about the last time you had a toothache and how your whole body was affected. Or when you tried to fall asleep when there was a mosquito in your bedroom!
I read the other day of a son who got tired of taking his elderly father to the bank. The older gentleman insisted on going inside even though using the ATM would be much faster and more convenient.
When asked why he had to go inside, the father replied with a gentle smile, “Well, it keeps those tellers in a job, and it gives me some much-needed human conversation and interaction.” A little thing but a huge impact.
I was reminded of the power of small things when two different parishioners casually mentioned to friends of theirs about the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (formerly, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) classes starting at our parish. Both friends reached out to me and will be attending. Just one small word made a big impression.
Don’t underestimate or shy away from doing little things for others. They really make the world a holier place because, in those acts of kindness, the love of Jesus becomes real.
Now, for all my fellow procrastinators out there, I’ll close with this challenge:
I shall do so much in the years to come, /But what have I done today?
I shall give out gold in princely sum, /But what did I give today?
I shall lift the heart and dry the tear, /I shall plant a hope in the place of fear, /
I shall speak with words of love and cheer, /But what have I done today?
I shall be so kind in the afterwhile, /But what have I been today?
I shall bring to each lonely life a smile, /But what have I brought today?
I shall give to truth a grander birth, /And to steadfast faith a deeper worth, /
I shall feed the hungering souls of earth, /But whom have I fed today?
(Found in Castle’s “More Quips, Quotes & Anecdotes for Preachers and Teachers.”)
In a nutshell, as the bumper sticker says: “Jesus is coming back. Get busy!”
