Feast Day of St. Teresa of Avila
Gospel Reading today: Luke 11:47-52
"You put onto people's backs loads which are hard to carry, but you yourselves will not stretch a finger to help them carry those loads." Luke 11:46
I don't know why today when I study the gospel I think of lessons learned from the grocery store. Maybe because it is now my second home? I literally thought that yesterday as I ran in to grab some diapers, I was saying hi to my friends who worked there and got such a warm feeling as I was dashing through the store in a hurry. Who would have ever thought I would take such comfort in a grocery store? Wow, my life is nothing what I expected it to be! In highschool I had big plans to own a fashion store on 5th Avenue in NYC. My, how my expectations have changed.
As I read the above exerpt from Luke, I thought how important it is to teach our children that they are NEVER above anyone. I was wondering how do we teach our children in daily living to reach out to others no matter what they look like and what their status may be. I believe that it begins with us. I think about my second home, the grocery store, and how busy the store is on sundays and how there are lines at every check-counter. I find myself helping out when the store is short handed. I can not stand there with my pile of groceries and watch the checker frazzled to try to get to the next customer. I put my kids to work and we start piling our groceries onto the counter and get a little assembly line going. I see in the face of the checker a smile and sense of relief. If there isn't a bagger available, I start bagging my own groceries (It's kind of fun...). As a result, we get through the check-out line alot faster than what we would have, the kids witnessed helping out someone carrying a heavy load...a load we were putting on them, and the guy behind us witnessed helping out someone in need. Who are we to think we are above bagging our own groceries? Or becoming friends with the sweet young man who always helps you out to your car and talks so kindly to your children? These are crucial lessons in teaching children that they are no better than ANYONE. There might not be anything I dispise more than people acting better than others. It shows nothing but ignorance, cowardness, and a lack of self confidence.
As Jesus tells us today in Luke, "How terrible you teachers of the Law! You have kept the key that opens the door to the house of knowledge (wisdom); you yourselves will not go in, and you stop those who are trying to learn." Luke 11:52
So start today, by opening the door for your children to wisdom.....don't keep the key hidden. Teach them to love others as they love themselves by helping out the ones carrying heavy loads and befriend the ones that others ignore. By doing this, you are stretching out Jesus' hands to others and teaching your children to become more like Christ. Today is the Feast Day of St. Teresa of Avila. She wrote something so beautiful that John Michael Talbott sings as a song that will make you cry. Here is what she wrote in one of her classic writings in the 1500's. This reminds me of Motherhood and living our daily lives for Christ:
"Christ has no body now on earth, but yours,
No hands but yours,
No feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which the
compassion of
Christ must look out on the world.
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about
doing good.
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless his people."
Have a blessed Thursday!
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