Time Marches On

We had our parish Memorial Mass for the Holy Father last night, as Spring Break is finally over. I noticed with dismay that less than I hoped came. I also noticed that the American Flag was flying high again, not half staff. The news, too, have found other things to talk about.

I don't want to move on, don't want to have him really be gone from this world. But the more I kept pondering this the more I realized that the best way to keep his influence and teachings going is to behave in a manner that honors his legacy.

Unfortunately, to my heart this implies self-sacrifice. Seriously. Who wants to be self sacrificing? But he was to such a degree that at his funeral people in the crowds spoke of "Papa" and began chanting "the Great!" and "Saint, Soon!!". If my greatest goal is to skip over purgatory and enter heaven sooner-and hopefully drag a whole lot of people with me-the reality is that I must be more self-giving, self sacrificing.

On a practical matter, this means reaching out more to the kids. It means doing the work sooner rather than later. It means often times LIVING as an example, rather than preaching or lecturing. It means reaching out to that kid who seems to me to dislike me. Who cares?! It means being generous in nature with the staff around me, whether I always agree with them or not. It means spendning less time checking out sites that I want to and more time working on things in my office (such a favorite past-time). It means watching TV less and praying more. It means organizing my life so that I have a balanced time for prayer and personal needs so that I don't resent a kid when he or she calls at the last minute looking for my presence at a game or a concert or some other event they'd like to see me at.

It means, simply living the very first words of his pontificate: Be Not Afraid.
Not of kids, not of being rejected, not of getting work done, not of praying, not of anything. Be Not Afraid. Follow God. Great things will happen.