Last night I was spending some time with my newborn son (my little fussy froggy). My dear wife had just fed him and was getting a few hours of much-needed sleep while I held him so he could also sleep. The lights were low and I was tired. Not too tired to function by any means, but rather too tired to do school reading. I read the news; I paced around; eventually I decided (after staring at my library for quite some time) to do some light pleasure reading. My eyes fell on a book I've been meaning to get into for a while now, The Essential Pope Benedict XVI: His Central Writings and Speeches. Probably not what most of my friends and family would choose to read after the sun has set but I thought to myself, there's no better time than now. So with my little fussy froggy asleep against my chest, I picked it up. Here's what I found:
"I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain."John 15:16
"We have received the faith to give it to others. We are priests meant to serve others. And we must bring a fruit that will remain. All people want to leave a mark which lasts. But what remains? Money does not. Buildings do not, nor books. After a certain amount of time, whether long or short, all these things disappear. The only thing which remains forever is the human soul, the human person created by God for eternity. The fruit which remains then is that which we have sowed in human souls: love, knowledge, a gesture capable of touching the heart, words which open the soul to joy in the Lord. let us then go to the Lord and pray to Him, so that He may help us bear fruit which remains."I was struck by how profound this little admonition is. It is so simple and true. With the arrival of my son, these words could not ring more true to my ears. What can I do which will remain? I can share love and knowledge of the Divine with Isaac. I can work to sow seeds in his soul which will grow and blossom into glorious fruit. I can live a life which models the great faith which I have received. I can pray that our gracious God will so transform our life that we daily give the give of love to all we meet.
My little fussy froggy is even now making little froggy sounds as he sleeps against my chest. I do indeed pray that I, by the grace of God, might bear such fruit that he will receive the faith, that he will experience the divine love which this faith brings.
Deo gratias
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