Talents and Equality

God made the world in six days. It was a pretty incredible task. He knew from the start what would happen with the world – including each of us. That is why when he created each of us in a specific mold. We are each a vital part of the body of Christ. I think I have ranted about that before, so just to avoid redundancy, I won’t go into it.

The problem I want to talk about today is people trying to make everyone equal. Envy is a dangerous sin – unlike jealousy, which is me wanting what you have, envy is destructive. It says if I can’t have it, you shouldn’t either. Take for example, if you get a new 52 inch plasma screen high definition TV, I might be jealous and want one like it (actually, I don’t watch much TV, so it probably wouldn’t matter that much). However, where I cross that line is saying, “Well, I can’t afford a TV like that, so I will just “accidentally” tip yours over so that you can’t have one either. Either that or I go out and buy one that I can’t afford on credit because I feel entitled to it.

In a society where envy has taken over most of the population, our nation is moving closer and closer to this principle of envy. It seems that they believe that if I go out and work my tail off and make a decent living, that they need to tax me extra so that they can give it to the less fortunate. Taking the money that I work hard for and giving it to someone who sits at home because they “can’t find a job” or “can’t work because they are depressed” and get paid for it. I’m fine with helping out children, widows, and the elderly, but the government is so inefficient at it that they can’t even get it right. Yet they take so much from most of us that we don’t have the means to do very many charitable acts. Let me keep that money that you squander and when I come across someone needy, I’ll give it to them. But why penalize me because I’m working to succeed. Why not make Mr. “too good to get a job” get out and work for his money.

I heard a preacher say that God gave each of us talents. But he didn’t just make some of us Mozart or Michelangelo. He gave us a seed of talent and we are in charge of taking that seed, planting it, nurturing it, and growing it to its potential. He did not give everyone the same seed or even the same amount. I may be good at farm work, but I will never be as good as my brother, who was given a much bigger seed. However, my seed was computers. I have been able to take my seed and nurture it – now it is blooming for me. Everyone has their own talents. It is just a matter of finding them and growing them into their full potential.

Some people complain that it is not fair that I have more talent than they do. But Peyton Manning has more talent than me at football. That isn’t fair. We should make him tie his right hand behind his back to play so it is more equal. Kobe Bryant? Make him wear 20 pound lead shoes so it is harder to move. Michael Phelps? Give him a weighted vest that he has to wear in races.

Now – I’m tall, maybe I need to be cut off at the knees so I’m not too tall. My wife is good at baking – better change out her sugar with white sand. It’s ridiculous. But much as the readings of the faithful servants point out – we will be judged based on what we were given.

If I’m given 5,000 talents and I double it – that is good. If you are given 2,000 talents and you triple it, that is even better. Even though I’ve got 10,000 and you only 6,000, God will know that you did more with less and you will be justly rewarded. He won’t say that you don’t have as much as me and so you don’t get as much reward.

“The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.” – Vince Lombardi

But now, I’m going back to growing my talents and working on the mission God has entrusted to me.

The Beat of a Heart…

The human heart is an amazing thing. It begins beating about 22 days after you are conceived and will continue beating until you die. Most of us believe that it can occasionally stop beating and be restarted with paddles, but I’ve heard doctors say that if it ever stops – it’s stopped forever. It beats in children as fast as 140 times per minute and gradually slows down as you get older until you reach about 60-80 as an adult. That means if you assume that you start with a heart rate of 140 and that declines by 5 beats per minute each year until you reach age 16 (it will be 65 at this point) it would have beat over a million times in your first year of life. By the time you are 19, this number would exceed a billion. When you reach age 33, the age Jesus was when he died, assuming a steady heart rate as stated above, your heart would have beat over 1.5 billion times.

My thoughts this morning were on that Heart which beat over 1.5 billion times. That Sacred Heart which loved us so much that it drove Him to endure such punishments that no ordinary man could have survived, only to be hung on a cross. That Heart which ached in Gethsemane, which forgave on Calvary, and which longs for us now. Each of those 1.5 billion beats was significant – each one was for me. Each drop of blood that a beat sent through his arteries could have been enough by itself for the salvation of the world, but since He is God, He couldn’t just give “enough” – He had to do things perfectly. So He was hung on a cross where His most Sacred Heart stopped beating. It was pierced with a lance. Then they laid Him in the tomb – His heart lying as still as His bruised and battered body. It stayed that way from Friday evening until early Sunday morning.

Imagine being able to see this Sacred Heart lying there completely still, totally motionless. But then, it beats once. A brief pause, but then it beats again. It continues to pick up its frequency until it is beating about once per second. The Heart continues beating and eventually the hands begin to tighten. Then His eyes open and His lungs gasp for air. This body that was dead – inanimate – no longer living is now beginning to breathe, beginning to move. Perhaps He coughed as I’m sure His throat was dry. He sat up and removed the cloth from His face and body. About this time, He looked up the stairs and saw the Angel standing where the stone had been.

We all know the story from there, but meditating on that first heart beat of the resurrection just gives me chills – it is incredible... With one little beat of the Heart, our Savior was risen. With one heart beat, Jesus had beat Satan, beat death! With one beat of that heart, salvation for us all had been achieved and the netherworld will never prevail.

I know Good Friday isn’t the most appropriate time to Blog about the resurrection, but I wanted to share my thoughts. Now, I’m back to my mission.

Dragon Slaying...

Each morning I rise from my bed with the sound of the alarm. After putting on my armor and a quick visit to my armory (Mass that is), I am ready for my day. Why do I need armor you ask? Well, I happen to be a dragon slayer.

I live in a world filled with dragons. They come in all shapes and sizes. Some are disguised as rude people in traffic. Others look like problems in my coding at work. Some target my family, stressing them out. Still others are in the shapes of laziness, gossip, greed, selfishness, and pride. Some even look like scantily clad women (these are especially prevalent in the summer months). These dragons are all over, just waiting for some unsuspecting person to stumble into their trap. I must be forever on guard as the slightest slip could allow me to be overcome by a beast hiding just around the corner.

Each day so many poor souls are devoured by these dragons. It is my mission to ward off the ones that attack me and my family and if I have a spare moment to help fight off the ones attacking others around me. There are far too many to completely wipe them out. They are produced so fast that they will never be extinct. However, when I am on my game, I can keep a lot of them away from my family, slay a couple at work, and fight off the ones in between.

Take for example this morning. I woke up and one was sticking his ugly head in my window trying to convince me to press the snooze button on my alarm clock one more time. I gave this up for Lent and so I was ready for him and attacked. After removing that beast, I got ready and left for work (no armory this morning, but I planned ahead and stocked up). I left for work and right away there was a dreaded “Cut-you-off” dragon right in the middle of traffic right next to a “Text-n-Drive”. I fended both of them off with a single blow and with the help of my Mother, I was able to avoid three or four potential attacks until I came upon a “So-Slow-Truck”. This one took a while, but finally I was able to get past him. I arrived at work and tackled 2 “Project-Stumpers” and a “Telemarketer”. I did get wounded by a “Distracto” but got right back on course. Finally, I overcame a couple more “Project-Stumpers”, “Telemarketers”, one that was named “Roger”, and then completed my day.

With so many dragons running at large, it’s a wonder that more people aren’t taken by them every day. Maybe they are and I just don’t see it when I’m fighting. However, I sometimes wonder if the dragons will win out in the end and if there are many more dragon slayers left in the world. I see some in the corporate environment and in traffic, but those dragons are easier to slay and less dangerous than the “Moral” dragons. The Moral’s will sneak right up on you and pounce when you aren’t paying attention. These are so dangerous because not only can they hurt you, but they have the ability to damage not only your physical body, but also your immortal soul. Face it only a few hits from these and if you don’t rush to a hospital (rather a Confessional) you could end up spiritually dead. And dead men don’t slay dragons.

Ah-ha! I see another dragon coming, so I’m back to my mission…

By the way - St. George - Pray for us dragon slayers!

The Story of Patrick McSullivan...

The classic story goes something like this: Patrick McSullivan was running late for his appointment downtown. He drove up and down the street trying to find a parking spot. This was very important meeting and he was very stressed worrying that he might lose the account. He was not a religious man, having not been to Mass in over 10 years, but he looked up to Heaven and prayed aloud, “Dear God, I beg o’ ya. If ya just help me ta find a parkin’ spot, I promise ta go to Mass every week. I will give some money ta the orphanage. I’ll even give up drinkin’.” Just a Patrick was finishing these words, a car right in front of him started back out of the spot. Smiling Patrick looked up again and said, “F’rget about all that Lord, I found one myself.”

This story illustrates how we often handle our own lives. At least Patrick remembered to call upon the Lord when he was in need. How many times each day do we think that we can handle a situation instead of asking for God’s help? When we finally do ask for his help, how often do we not notice an answered prayer? Maybe a loved one is sick. Perhaps it is an issue of money. But one way or another, we will at some point need God’s assistance. In fact, we always need His assistance and He loves to help us when we ask.

Have you ever had someone ask you to do a difficult task only to criticize it when you are done? Take for example the young boy who is asked to clean his room. After a battle, he finally gives in and decides to do a good job. Hours later, the laundry is picked up, his furniture is dusted, his room is organized, the floor is vacuumed, the bed is made, clothes put away, and the room generally looks wonderful. He has his mother come in to check and she points out that he missed a dirty sock under the bed, that his trash needs empty, and that she was planning on changing his sheets so he should unmake the bed. There is nothing like good appreciation. How often do we beg God for a favor and when He answers our prayer, we simply complain? Maybe we ask for a promotion at work and when He helps us get it, we complain about the extra work. Maybe we ask for the healing of a loved one who is seriously ill, but when He heals the sick person yet it’s not fast enough for our liking. How does this kind of gratitude show God just how much we appreciate Him? Maybe like Patrick we don’t realize that God has just intervened in our lives. Maybe we don’t see it. They say hindsight is 20/20 so we need to look back in our lives and see how many times God has done something amazing. Maybe we pray for that sick person who gets better and we barely notice it, but then when we pray for that dying person and God takes them home instead of leaving them to suffer, we assume that he doesn’t care or that we are being punished. It’s always hard when we don’t get our way, but we have to remember that His Will is for us will make us the happiest version of ourselves if only we follow it. It is when we impose our own will that we end up stumbling into depression or depressing situations.

We may never know until we try to find the times God has blessed us. Take for example my situation. In the spring of 2002, I sat in my dorm room debating my future. I was strongly considering transferring to a different school, specifically Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. I thought that transferring there may be the answer to what God wanted me to do. I prayed about it and ultimately took no action to transfer. This seemed like God hadn’t really answered me at the time, but it wasn’t until almost 2 years later that I learned of the ramifications that this decision (and answered prayer had). I came to find out that the woman I now call my wife was in her senior year of high school filling out college applications. She pondered going to Benedictine College or the local University. She had already put in her application to the University and ultimately decided against Benedictine as well. A few short months later, we met. Both of us had prayed for guidance and God had led us to the destination that was part of His plan.

The point I’m trying to make is, in the last few weeks of Lent, we should focus on how we pray and making sure to say “Thank You” when God answers a prayer. A good idea (that I’m going to try to do myself) is keeping a prayer journal and jotting down your daily prayers. Then you can go back over the last few weeks and see what prayers you prayed then. You will see the prayers that you said one day, and see how, even though you may not have noticed, God answered them. Isn’t God GREAT?!?

And now, I’m back to my mission…