💖 ANECDOTES 💖

Anecdotes

1) “Peace of mind.” “Burnout” has become a term everybody knows, because we see people around us collapsing into numbness and addiction — if not to alcohol or drugs, to television or pleasure or to the rat-race of getting ahead. It’s little wonder that a USA Today poll a couple of years ago showed that an overwhelming majority of people from all walks of life, when asked what they wanted most from life, replied “peace of mind.” — The incident of two sisters from Bethany in today’s Gospel tells us how to have it. 

 2) John 12:21: There is a time-honored story about a newly ordained young priest fresh out of seminary who was assigned to his first parish in a small, farming community. Each Sunday he preached exegetical sermons that had nothing to do with the lives of the people. In fact, over the years the village congregation had become quite patient and tolerant, gifted with the task of training young priests in the realities of Church life. Months went by, and then one Sunday the elderly sacristan who prepared the sanctuary for the Mass left a note on the pulpit. “Read John 12:21.” That’s all it said, John 12:21. Well, the young priest arrived in the sanctuary to prepare for the morning’s Mass. He saw the note on the pulpit which read “John 12:21.” A curious thing to find in the pulpit, he thought. So, he quickly thumbed through his Bible and found the passage which read: “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” — In today’s Gospel story, while Martha was busy preparing to feed Jesus, Mary wanted to see Jesus and listen to him. (Merlin T.)

 3) C priorities: A time-management guru, a professor in the business school at Harvard, speaks about A, B, and C priorities, and then he notes that too many people spend too much of their time on the C priorities! And then he asks, “Why do you think that is?” The answer is that the C priorities are, first, much easier to accomplish, and, second, give you the impression that you are actually getting something done. In other words, you can keep busy with the C priorities all day and never get to the more important things. — The lesson from Mary and Martha is “Don’t let the good (the C priorities) get in the way of the best (the A priorities).) Sound like anyone you know? (Dr. James Rueb, Overcoming Busyness). 

 4) One more football story. When Vince Lombardi took over the Green Bay Packers, they were on the bottom. In 1958, they lost 10 out of 12 games, tied 1 and won 1. When they came to camp in June of 1959 Vince Lombardi said, “Gentlemen, we are going to have a football team. We are going to win some games. Get that!” Now how were they going to do that? “You are going to learn to block, run, and tackle,” he said. “You are going to outplay all the teams that come up against you.” Then he threw in the clincher! “You are to have confidence in me and enthusiasm for my system,” he ordered. “Hereafter, I want you to think of only three things: your home, your religion, and the Green Bay Packers.” — We would quarrel with the order but not the spirit of Lombardi’s challenge. He had narrowed his priorities to those simple things that he considered important. We could learn from that. For we, too, must decide what is really important in our lives, as Mary did in today’s Gospel story. 

5) Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper: There was a cartoon in the New Yorker magazine in which a man and his wife were in a famous art gallery where they saw Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper. The man said to his wife, “That reminds me. I have an Administrative Board meeting tomorrow.” — Do you get it? The Lord’s Supper was not a Church meeting, but a fellowship meal. Church meetings are important, but only if they are connected to God. All work and no pray soon produces a frazzled Christian. Does that not describe many people today both in the Church and out? A Gallup poll reveals that 95% of Americans hate their jobs. They derive from them very little meaning and find very little purpose in them. The highest incidence of heart attacks takes place on Monday mornings between 8:00 and 9:00 AM. [The Living Pulpit, Work Issue, Vol. 5, No. 3 (July-Sept. 1996), p. 8]. 

 6) Set your priorities: There is a story about a man who was preparing his favorite breakfast of hot oatmeal when his daughter came rushing in with his little four-year-old grandson. “The babysitter has been delayed,” she explained, “and I’ve got to go to work. Will you keep Bobby for a few hours?” Granddad said, “Sure,” and his daughter left. Then Granddad scooped up two bowls of oatmeal. “Do you like sugar?” he asked. When Bobby nodded he asked, “How about some butter, too?” When his grandson nodded again he asked, “How about milk?” “Sure,” the boy said. But when the grandfather placed the steaming bowl of oatmeal in front of Bobby, the boy made a face and pushed it away. “But when I asked you, you said you liked sugar, butter and milk,” grandfather protested. “Yeah,” Bobby answered, “but you didn’t ask me if I like oatmeal.”– Granddad forgot to ask the most elemental question. Sometimes we forget to do that, too. We never set priorities. We never list in our own minds what those things are that matter most. We allow life to buffet us here and there and we never center in on those things that really matter. 

 7) Welcome to a man with his hat on: A man attending a crowded Church service refused to take off his hat when asked to do so by the ushers. Others also asked him to remove his hat, but he remained obstinate. The preacher was perturbed, too, and waited for the man after the service. He told the man that the Church was quite happy to have him as a guest, and invited him to join the Church, but he explained the traditional decorum regarding men’s hats and said, “I hope you will conform to that practice in the future.” “Thank you,” said the man. “And thank you for taking time to talk to me. It is good of you to invite me to join the congregation. In fact, I joined it three years ago and have been coming regularly ever since, but today is the first time that anyone paid attention to me. After being an unknown for three years, today, by simply keeping on my hat on, I have had the pleasure of talking with the ushers, several of the congregants and you. Thanks!” Our Scripture for this Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time is about welcoming – about hospitality. It is about noticing the other and being attentive to the other. “Hospitality is the way we come out of ourselves. It is the first step toward dismantling the barriers of the world. Hospitality is the way we turn a prejudiced world around, one heart at a time.” (Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister). — In our first reading, Abraham and Sarah go out of their way to entertain three strangers, and they receive God’s blessing. In the Gospel, Martha and Mary receive Jesus in their home at Bethany, each in her own characteristic way.