Homily Offered at the School Mass for OLPH
Readings for the Memorial Today we
celebrate the Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, a woman of royalty,
daughter of the King of Hungary. She
could have lived a life of luxury and leisure, but she chose a life of prayer
and care. She helped the poor and
suffering in her land. In our first we
were taught to help those in need.
Then, in
our Gospel we were taught to “Do to others as you would have them do to
you.” At the beginning of this
school year, we were challenged to “… give to
God our Personal Best.”
How?
One of
the best ways to do that is by looking for God’s image in each person we
meet. We are called to treat each person we meet as if they were the
Lord.
The
famous Russian author Leo Tolstoy who wrote, War & Peace, Anna
Karenina among others. He, also, wrote
a powerful short story, variously translated as Shoemaker Martin, Martin
the Cobbler, The Old Shoemaker.
The
shoemaker had a dream, he heard a voice say, “Martin. Martin.
Look tomorrow on the streets for I am coming.” The next day Martin saw an old soldier
shoveling snow and invited him in for a warm drink. He saw a mother with, no coat, and a small
child in her arms, he invited her into his home gave them some food, a warm
drink and his coat. Then, he saw a
little boy take an apple for a woman who was selling them, Martin paid for the
apple gave it to the boy who promised not to steal again.
As Martin
got ready for bed later that day; he was disappointed that the Lord hadn’t
visited. Again, he heard the voice
say, Martin, Martin did you not recognize Me? In the corner of his shop Martin saw the
image of the old soldier, the mother and the child, and the little boy with the
woman selling apples. Martin lived today’s Gospel, “Do
to others as you would have them do to you.”
Martin learned that helping someone
is helping the Lord. Martin gave to God his personal best, we are called to do the same. Sometime tonight or over the weekend watch the
video with your parents it is on YouTube: : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pifDZ1hu6gY
May God
Be Praised & May we Do unto
others as we would have them do unto us.
