Dear Friends,
Unless we are extremely fortunate we all must deal with two realities
in life. Neither are pleasant and are learned at a young age. Both
realities have to do with the disappointing fashion in which people treat
us. One is a crime of material things. The other is crimes of the heart.
Both involve pain and loss.
In third grade I had to face this rude awakening to
life. It was right after recess and I put my baseball glove on a bench just
inside the schools’ front door. Later, I went to get it and it was gone.
Someone had lifted it! There was a thief in St. Mary School, I was shocked,
appalled, speechless, wracked to my inmost being. I had worked that glove a
long, long time. Oil, spit and sweat gave it just the right flexibility I
wanted. That mitt was like a hawk’s talons—it caught everything that came
its way. But now, it was gone, vanished, disappeared. Yes, stolen!! That
dirty, stinking rat. Sister told us where people like that would spend
eternity, I’ll bet his grandfather was one of those guys hanging on a cross
next to Jesus. Never did find it. Third grade introduced me to the world
of crime.
The
other great crime was also in third grade when I realized that Sister Marie
Bernice would not leave the convent for me. I loved her. Actually I got
over that pretty quick because a new girl named Penny moved to town. I was
in love again. Oh those beautiful brown eyes and bouncing ponytail. Would
she embrace my heart? After all, I was pretty grown up for eight; and
wouldn’t you know it, just as I was about to share my heart with her, they
moved. Just like that. Her parents were moving to another city already, I
knew it was because they didn’t want me to marry her. It took me a lot
longer to get over Penny than it did Sister.
What a year. Welcome to life. I guess all of us experience heartbreak
of one kind or another. Remember? Thank God that Jesus was there to mend
my heart from the scars of crime and love.
He is there for you too, always will be.
Fr. Tom
