Thursday, January 31, 2019
Today, in Mercy, we celebrate the feast of St. John Bosco, Priest and Teacher. He is a saint I would not have paid much attention to except for someone very special to me.
St. John Bosco was the patron saint of Sister Mary Giovanni, my sponsor when I entered the Sisters of Mercy over fifty years ago. She was my high school teacher and my later friend.
Like her patron saint, she was humble, honest, loving and uncomplicated. Her quiet humor, evenness and easy acceptance of others inspired me. She motivated me to want to be good and do good.
In reading Hebrews today, I thought of her immediately. Verse 10:24 reads:
We must consider
how to rouse one another
to love and good works.
That’s what she did for me. She wasn’t preachy. She wasn’t bossy. She didn’t even obviously try to influence me. But her humble, honest, loving care for people wowed me. I wanted to live life the way she did.
This is what Paul is talking about in our first reading today. We need one another’s faith, goodness, and example to energize our Spirit life.
Certainly, teachers have a great opportunity for this kind of influence in shaping a person’s life. But so do we all – with youngsters and those not so young 😊!
Let’s try to be that kind of person today.
Let’s give thanks for the gift of those persons in our lives.
Music: In Your Hands ~ Ron Hiller and Judy Millar
While directed toward teachers, this song can motivate us all to think about how we “teach” with our lives. It can remind us of the many kinds of “teachers” who have blessed us.
Lavish Mercy 