A Daily Dose of God

Stephen Covey shared this story in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  One Sunday morning on a subway in New York. People were sitting quietly — some reading newspapers, some lost in thought, some resting with their eyes closed. It was a calm, peaceful scene. Then suddenly, a man and his children entered the subway car. The children were so loud and rambunctious that instantly the whole climate changed.

The man sat down and closed his eyes, apparently oblivious to the situation. The children were yelling back and forth, throwing things, even grabbing people’s papers. It was very disturbing. And yet, the man did nothing.

It was difficult not to feel irritated. I could not believe that he could be so insensitive to let his children run wild like that and do nothing about it, taking no responsibility at all. It was easy to see that everyone else on the subway felt irritated, too. So, someone finally said, “Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people, couldn’t control them a little more?

The man lifted his gaze as if to come to a consciousness of the situation for the first time and said softly, “Oh, you’re right. I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don’t know what to think, and I guess they don’t know how to handle it either.”

Pope Francis famously said, “Who am I to judge?”, we can learn from the Pope’s humility.  What can we learn?  We can learn the wisdom we were taught as children, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”  Today judge less and pray for those whom you would judge.

May God Be Praised! 

Join me and cry out from the depths of your heart to the Lord.  Hear my cry!  “Lord, listen to my prayer: turn your ear to my appeal.” [Psalm 143]  God, You are our refuge and our hope, we turn to you during this COVID 19 pandemic and plead for Your intercession.  In Your mercy and Your compassion “… grant eternal rest to the dead, comfort to mourners, healing to the sick ….” [Collect from Mass Time in Pandemic]

Provide strength to the first responders, compassion to the medical personnel, and wisdom to government leaders.  End this coronavirus scourge.  Bring Your light to all who wander in the darkness of this pandemic and give us hope in Your eternal love today and everyday.  Amen.  [Dcn. George Kelly]