08 July 2007

16th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C (2004)

14/07/07 15:32

Ordinary 16-C (July 18, 2004)

A story is told of three fathers, all in the hospital waiting room, as their wives were about to give birth to their first child. A doctor came out and announced to the first father, “I have great news! You are now the proud father of twins!” The ecstatic father said, “That’s wonderful! And what an odd coincidence, because I’m a professional baseball player for the Minnesota Twins!” A little later, the doctor came out again, and this time, announced to the second father, “Congratulations! You’re the proud father of triplets!” This father started passing out cigars and said, “That’s wonderful! And what a great coincidence, because I work for 3M Corporation.” Still a little later, the doctor came out looking for the third father, but he was nowhere to be found. “What happened to him?” the doctor asked the people in the waiting room. They replied, “He ran out of here like a bat out of hell after you announced the birth of the triplets. He muttered something about working at Seven-Eleven.”

How many here are parents? Then you can really relate to that joke! It’s not easy being a parent. Last week, I came across a story of two teen-aged boys, talking to one another. The first said to his friend, “I’m really nervous and on edge. My dad works night and day at his job, just to take care of me and my brothers and sisters. My mom works night and day at home, cleaning and cooking, just to take care of me and my brothers and sisters. So I am really worried.” His friend asked, “That sounds pretty good! Why are you worried?” The first boy replied, “I’m afraid they might try to escape!”

It’s not easy being a parent. So all you kids here – let’s give your parents a big round of applause.

Watch this movie clip. It’s from “Parenthood” with Steve Martin. [Show last clip of movie, about birth of baby]

Any of you remember the birth of your first child? How many felt you were witnessing a miracle? In fact, we have lots of children here in this church – lots of “miracles” walking around. I do believe our children are special gifts from God. Parents – take a moment and give your children a hug! [And yes, it’s even OK to give your teenagers a hug – they may not admit they like it, but they do!]

Today, we’re going to talk about parenthood. We’re going to talk about 10 Commandments for building strong families. This is probably one of the most practical, down to earth homilies you are going to hear all year, so listen carefully – even take a few notes if you want. All of us want strong, healthy families. God is the expert because God is the one who created families in the first place, and God’s Word in the Bible is chock full of great advice for parents.

First, as it says on your handout, the most important ingredient is what? Right! FAITH.

Did you know that in the United States, every 30 seconds, a marriage ends in divorce? Or that the average marriage in the U.S. lasts only 7 ½ years? Or that one in every four babies born in the U.S. is born to a single mother and will start out life without a father? Those are frightening statistics! America is facing a crisis in marriage and in families. But a Harvard study found that in families and in marriages where God is a priority, where the family prays together and is active in their local church and takes faith seriously, the divorce rate plummets to only about 1 in every 1,000 marriages. God and faith really make a difference!

This is so important because we so often forget it. Parents get busy with work, and with keeping up with the Jones’, and with the materialistic values of our consumer society, that God gets shoved off onto the sidelines or often forgotten altogether. I cannot tell you how many couples come running to us priests for marriage counseling, and almost always, part of the problem is that God has not been a central part of that couple’s life. I can’t tell you how many children I see at weddings and funerals who don’t know how to make the sign of the cross, who don’t know how to say the “Our Father,” who don’t know anything about Mass or about their Christian faith – because mom and dad never bring them to church and never teach them about God at home.

Nothing – and let me repeat – NOTHING AT ALL – is more important than faith. It is the one gift which we can give to our children that will last into eternity. Everything else we give them – bicycles, baseball gloves, dolls, Nintendo, Game Boys – will eventually break and rot and end up in the garbage heap. But not faith! A relationship with God will help them find meaning and purpose and direction in their life here on earth, and happiness and fulfillment that will continue on into eternity in heaven with God.

A quick word to the men: You too must teach your children about faith in God. One of the sad things I see so often is a macho attitude among many men that religion and faith is the responsibility of the mother, not the men. But this is a big lie by Satan! God wants to save both men and women, not just the women! And the world needs godly men who will lead their families in word and action and set a good example of faithfulness to God for their children.

A story is told of a priest who was a missionary in a small, isolated village in Africa. He worked day and night to serve the people of the village. At the church he built, he founded a medical clinic and a food pantry and a thrift store. But after about five years of hard labor, he became sick and had to fly back to the U.S. for medical treatment. That lasted about three months, then he returned to Africa, only to discover that his Catholic Church no longer existed. Now, a sign hung outside the door of the church proclaiming that it belonged to an evangelical Protestant denomination. The priest was dumbstruck and asked the villagers, “What happened? I poured five years of my life into helping you start a Catholic church, and now, in just a few short months, you all change religion? Why?” One villager replied, “Father, you gave us many things – food, clothing, medicine. But you forgot to teach us the most important thing of all – about a living, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The Protestants offered us that, so we’ve all changed over to their religion.”

The same principle applies to our families. We can give our children all the material blessings that the world has to offer – but it will be meaningless if we fail to also help them experience a personal relationship with the Lord. That’s the point of the Gospel story, where Martha is busy working and slaving away in the kitchen while her sister Mary is spending time with Jesus. As Jesus says, “Martha, Martha! You are worried about many things! But only a few things are necessary, and really only one. Mary has chosen the better part, and nobody will ever be able to take it away from her.”

We can give our children all the material wealth that the world has to offer. Some day, it will all be gone – broken or rotten. But if we give our children to gift of faith, nobody can take that away from there, ever.

Our first reading in Genesis shows us an example of faithfulness. We hear the story of Abraham and Sara, a couple of deep faith, but who were unable to have children of their own. Then, when Abraham is 100 years old and his wife Sara is 90 years old, God appears to them and tells them they will soon have a son.

For Abraham and Sara, three things strike me. First, they were surprised. How many of us have been surprised and often delighted by our children. Children are always full of surprises! Secondly, they saw the birth of their son Isaac as a true heaven-sent miracle. Do we see each of our children as special miracles from God? And finally, they saw the birth of Isaac as a blessing. Do we look into the eyes of our children each days and say to ourselves, “You, my son, or you, my daughter, are a blessing from God”?

On your handout are Ten “Commandments” – pieces of advice – for parents. Let’s look at each one briefly.

1. Introduce your children to God. If you don’t, there is no guarantee that someone else will. The world is full of other influences. Our children will either choose God or the world. In many ways, which choice they make will depend on you, their parents. Just stop and think how solemn and important is the responsibility that God gives to parents. The very life and death and eternity of your child may depend on whether or not you introduce your child to a relationship with God.

2. Teach your children about God. Sometimes, parents are too passive. We think faith rubs off on our children, almost as if by magic. But it doesn’t. We must do more than simply try to set a good example. Parents must actively strive to teach their faith to their children – by reading the Bible with your children, maybe using a Children’s Bible with pictures; or praying together as a family; or discussing God’s perspective on current issues.

3. Show your children the importance of commitment. Parents who attend Mass every week with their children show their children that a real commitment to God and to faith is a priority in their life. Parents who slack off or make excuses show that God is just on the sidelines. One of the most important commitments for our children is a strong marriage. When children grow up seeing their parents respecting and caring for one another – when they see a truly positive image of married love – this equips them to be successful in the future in their own marriages.

4. Accept your children. This might seem obvious, but some parents actually treat one child differently from another child. They don’t accept their child for who he or she is. Often, when there is a stepchild or a child from another previous marriage, parents make the big mistake of treating their own blood children better than the adopted children. This can leave deep and permanent scars in the psyche of a young child, because children don’t care about blood lines – they just need to be loved and accepted, unconditionally, without strings attached. Abraham and Sara had this problem. Once Isaac their blood child was born, they completely rejected their previous adopted son, Ishmael.

5. Understand your children. This is especially important with teenagers. So often I hear teens complain that their parents don’t even seem to make an effort to try to understand their teenagers. And maybe it cuts both ways. Sometimes, I think we adults are too busy with work and other distractions, that our children get short shrift. To parents, teens are like creatures from another planet. They like strange music, dress in strange clothes, dye their hair red or green or blue, wear rings in all sorts of funny places, and do a lot of other things that seem specially designed to irritate parents. But parents: Understand that it is normal for teenagers to push the limits. They are trying to discover themselves and their unique identity. They don’t want to be seen as simply embracing their parents’ values and standards. Instead of criticizing them or putting them down, first try to dialogue and talk and see things from their perspective. [Of course, I’m not saying let your teenagers engage in dangerous or reckless behavior – drugs, gangs, alcohol, and so forth].

6. Love your children. This is another obvious one. But the real question is: How? Here are some tips:

SHOW AFFECTION. Give your kids hugs, high fives, a slap on the back for encouragement, touch.

GIVE AFFIRMATION. Encourage and build up your kids with positive compliments, when they are deserved. We all need to be affirmed, and kids, especially. Too many families are stressed out and, as a result, bombard their kids with a barrage of negative comments: You’re stupid; you’ll never amount to anything; you’re destined to be a failure… We need to affirm and build up our kids, not tear them down, by letting them know that they are bright, smart, capable, and that we really love them and are proud of them and believe in them.

MAKE TIME FOR YOUR CHILDREN. There is no substitute for time with your children. A story is told of a professional baseball player named Tim Burke, who played for the Montreal Expos. He and his wife adopted four children. But Tim was on the road all the time and never had time for his wife and kids. Finally, he decided to quit the Montreal Expos. He explained: “Baseball doesn’t really need me, but my children do.”

PRAY – for your children, and also, with your children: at church, at home, before meals, at bedtime, in the morning as they head to school. Find special times when you and your entire family can pray together.

7. Build character in your children. Teach them right from wrong. Here, we talk about the need to discipline your children. But there is a big difference between Punishment and Discipline. Look on your handout. The motive of punishment is to make a child pay for a mistake. The motive of discipline is to help the child grow into a more mature person in the future. The focus of punishment is on the past – the child needs to be punished because of what he or she did in the past. The focus of discipline is on the future, to help the child become a better person for tomorrow. The attitude of punishment is anger. We punish the child because we are angry at him or her. The attitude of discipline is love – we tell our child that the discipline is because we love them and we truly want what is best for them. We do not enjoy discipline, but it is a necessary means to a greater end. The result of punishment often is a child who feels fear or guilt when a parent approaches. The result of discipline is security – the child feels safe because we have established certain clear cut and fair boundaries, or protections, for the child. Even teenagers need rules and boundaries, though they might not like to admit it. Three final important points about discipline: (1) Always discipline your child after you’ve calmed down, when you are not longer acting out of anger; (2) discipline promptly, when the infraction is still fresh – don’t postpone and procrastinate until it is too late; and (3) discipline sparingly – discipline should be the exception rather than the rule. Most of the time, we should be showering our children with love and affection, so that in the rare moment when we need to be more strict and more disciplinarian, they can see that love is the norm, and that discipline is rooted in this love.

8. Be consistent. Don’t be a yo-yo – super strict one day, super lax another day. This only confuses children. And be consistent with all your children – don’t discipline one child in one way, and another child in a completely different way.

9. Protect your children – physically, mentally, and spiritually. The devil is just waiting to grab your child. Parents need to be vigilant and attentive.

10. Finally, free your children. There is a fine balance between being too strict and too lenient. Especially as children get older and enter their teen years, they want to stretch their wings and become more independent, and this is normal and to be expected and encouraged. Within limits, allow your child freedom. How? By picking which battles are worth fighting over and which are not. Clothing styles or preference of music or hair color is a lot less important than if your child is getting good grades in school, if he or she is hanging around good friends or bad, if he or she is getting involved on the streets with drugs or alcohol or truancy from school or gangs. Negotiate with your kids as they get older some mutually agreed upon rules – how late they can stay out, with whom, how they must check in, and so forth. One big mistake I’ve seen some parents make – especially fathers toward their teenage daughters – in a misbegotten effort to protect their child from harm, they end up suffocating the child. I’ve known parents who tell their child, “You must come home immediately after school and stay here in the house, watching your younger brothers and sisters. No phone. No visitors. No leaving the house. No boyfriends.” In a sense, these parents think they are protecting their child, but in reality, they are suffocating the child. Often, the child becomes resentful and rebellious and starts to secretly behave in exactly the way that the parent does NOT want – just to exact some revenge on their parents for being too overly protective.

Ten “Commandments” or suggestions for how to build strong and healthy families. That’s what God wants. It’s not easy. You won’t be perfect at it – nobody is. But don’t get discouraged. Persevere.

Your homework assignment, should you choose to accept it, is this:

Take this handout home and re-read it.

Maybe even share some of the points on this handout with your teenaged child.

Pick at least one or two of these Ten Commandments where you feel that you need to put in some extra energy and work for improvement, put a check mark next to those one or two items, and start working on improving in that one specific area.

God bless! May God help all of us to have strong and healthy families!

15th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C (2007)

14/07/07 15:25

15th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C
July 15, 2007

God’s Reflection Revealed – To Us and In Us!

A story is told of a farm boy on the way to market when his wagon full of wheat overturned on the road. Farmer Smith, who lived right in front of where the accident happen, ran out to help the boy. He assured the boy, “Willis, don’t worry. Everything will be all right. Come in to the house, eat some lunch, then afterward, we’ll right the trailer together.” But Willis replied, “That’s mighty nice of you, Farmer Smith, but I don’t think my dad will approve.” Farmer Smith smiled: “Your dad won’t mind. Come in, relax for a moment, eat, then we’ll take care of the trailer together!” The boy agreed. After lunch, he said, “Now I feel a lot better, but I still think dad is going to be real upset.” Farmer Smith smiled again, “It’ll be OK. Your dad won’t mind. By the way, where is your dad?” “Oh,” said Willis, “he’s under the trailer.”

Today’s gospel story is about the Good Samaritan. It’s about helping others out. Farmer Smith tried his best. Willis wasn’t too adept, however, at being a Good Samaritan for his dad, was he? And sometimes, we’re a bit like Farmer Smith, but at other times, we’re more like Willis, aren’t we? This parable of Jesus is a familiar one – maybe too familiar. Often, it goes in one ear and out the other. We’ve heard the story, over and over again. So today, I want to approach it from a different direction.

Over Fourth of July weekend, I visited some friends in Phoenix. They have a young baby, less than a year old. When the baby got fussy and started to cry, they would place the child on its back, looking straight up at a spinning ceiling fan, and the child would get quiet, mesmerized and enthralled by the spinning fan. I want to ask each of you today to consider a question: What mesmerizes and enthralls you?

The world offers lots of false temptations that can mesmerize us: fast cars, fancy clothes, money, glamour, parties, popularity, fame. But I want us to ask ourselves: Does Jesus mesmerize and enthrall us? You see, back in the first century, when he walked on the earth in Galilee and to Jerusalem, people were mesmerized by Jesus: his love for people, his compassion, the way he reached out to the sick and the marginalized and the suffering, the way he embraced children, the way he brought healing, the way he taught with authority and opened their eyes to new insights. Are we, today, mesmerized by Jesus?

Last week, a young man came to talk with me. He was maybe 22 or 23 years old and confessed, “Going to Mass really doesn’t excite me. It bores me!” I told him that going to Mass will always bore him, if that is the end-all and be-all of his faith. Mass is like the whip cream and the maraschino cherry on top the ice cream sundae – it’s when we come together as a Christian family to praise and worship the Lord and to receive Jesus in the Word and in the Eucharist – but it’s pretty empty if there is no ice cream, if we’re not living out our faith in other ways during the week.

That’s the problem with the lawyer in our gospel story today. He asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” and, at first, Jesus gave him the stock answer: “Love God, love neighbor, obey the commandments.” That’s not an incorrect answer – but the lawyer really wasn’t living out what Jesus told him. His faith was empty – pure externals, going through the motions, but without substance. Lots of Catholics are like that today – they go to Mass, go through the external motions, but they aren’t in love with Jesus, they aren’t mesmerized end enthralled by him.

On the screen, I have a photo. What do you think? Do you like it? What does it show? Right – a reflection. I don’t know about you, but just as that baby was mesmerized and enthralled by the spinning fan, beautiful reflections in nature mesmerize and enthrall me. How would you respond if I said that people also can mesmerize and enthrall us, when they reflect love and kindness, compassion and charity, when they reflect God? Isn’t that why we admire a Mother Theresa or a Saint Francis of Assisi or a person who runs into a burning building to rescue someone trapped in a fire?

Today, in our readings, we see God – reflected to us, and reflected in us. Read with me from our second reading today, Colossians 1:15: “Christ is the exact likeness of the unseen God.” Jesus reflected his Father. Now follow my logic here: If Jesus reflected his Father, and if, in the Eucharist, we receive Jesus and he enters into us and transforms us and we become the Body of Christ – then God is reflected not just in Jesus, but also in us, and in those around us, and in the world. I love this painting, this icon – “In His Image.” We give it out at our Mini-Retreat 401. It’s the face of Jesus, but made up of the faces of many, many people, like us, who are called to become the hands and feet, the arms and the legs of our Lord in the world.

Listen quietly to God’s word to us from today’s first reading in Deuteronomy – words spoken with tenderness and compassion, meant to encourage us to embrace a real faith, not just a superficial faith of externals:

The Lord your God will delight in you if you obey his voice and keep the commands and laws written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul. – Deuteronomy 30:10, NLT

This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you to understand or perform. It is not up in heaven, so distant that you must ask, 'Who will go to heaven and bring it down so we can hear and obey it?' It is not beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, 'Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear and obey it?' The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it. – Deuteronomy 30:11-14, NLT

Now, imagine Jesus in our gospel today, with kindness and love, speaking to the lawyer, explaining the commandments to love God and love neighbor, and then telling the story of the Good Samaritan.

In the world, there are Good Samaritans and Bad Samaritans. We sometimes are the good guys who stop to help, but at other times, we’re too busy and we pass by, like the priest and the Levite. Watch the following clip and then tell me who is the Good Samaritan in the story: [Show 2 minute clip from “Forest Gump” as Forest climbs onto the school bus for the first time]

This gospel today is about Jesus inviting us beyond superficial faith – to become mesmerized and enthralled by him, so much in love with him that our faith becomes more than pretense, more than duties and rules and obligations. We start to reflect Jesus in our lives by loving others, and in so doing, we love God.

How do we jump into the story of the Good Samaritan in our own lives? On your handout are some words of wisdom that help guide us on the way:

Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. – Saint Francis of Assisi

He drew a circle that shut me out: Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in. (Unknown author)

What is sin? It is to turn a deaf ear to the cries of another person. – Kahlil Gibran

Of what use is a compassion that doesn’t take its object into its arms? – Antoine de Saint Exupery

The person who does a good deed is instantly ennobled. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Father Flor McCarthy offers this prayer, “Beatitudes for Carers” –

Blessed are those who care and who are not afraid to show it.
They will let people know they are loved.

Blessed are those who are gentle and patient. They will help people to grow as the sun helps the buds to open and blossom.

Blessed are those who know how and when to let go. They will lighten many burdens.

Blessed are those who, when nothing can be done or said, do not walk away, but remain to provide a comforting and supportive presence. They will help the sufferer to bear the unbearable.

Blessed are those who are not afraid of sacrifice. On the day of the harvest, they will sing for joy.

Blessed are those who recognize their own need to receive, and who receive with graciousness. They will be able to give all the better.

Blessed are those who give without hope of return. They will give people an experience of God. (from Fr. Flor McCarthy)

It’s not always easy. Sometimes, we become absorbed in ourselves more than helping other people. A novelist once wrote about a self absorbed woman named Edith. He said, “Edith was a little country, bounded on the north, south, east and west by Edith!” In a Peanuts cartoon one time, Lucy asked Charlie Brown, “Why do you think we are here on this earth?” Charlie Brown replied, “To make others happy.” Lucy mused on this and then said, “I don’t think I am making anyone very happy.” But then, after a few more moments of thought, she continued: “Of course, nobody is making me very happy, either! Somebody is not doing his job!”

We have our blind spots. A funny story is told of a Scottish lad who was admitted into Oxford. His mum was worried about his fitting in with the snobbish Brits. One day, she called him on the phone to see how he was doing. “Fine,” he replied, “but my British roommates are a bit odd. One stays up all night, hitting his head on the wall, while the other screams and curses until the sun comes up.” The mum, distraught, asked her son, “Oh Donald, how do you cope?” “Easy,” he replied. “I just sit quietly there by myself each night, playing my bagpipes.”

Father Mark Link tells two poignant true stories that relate to our gospel today. One involved a woman in New York City, crossing at a busy street corner. As she waited for the light to change, she noticed a young girl on the other side of the sidewalk, maybe 15 years old, crying. As the light changed and they started to cross, they passed each other. The woman felt like reaching out to the teenager – but instead, she kept going. Later, she wondered, “Why didn’t I just take a few seconds and ask that girl if she needed any help? I’m a mom. Maybe I could’ve helped her. At the worst, all she could’ve done was tell me to mind my own business!”

The second story happened in Chicago, and was told in a newspaper article by columnist Bob Greene. A woman was sitting in a restaurant and noticed a black boy trying to earn an honest living, shining shoes. He would approach the customers, all wealthy, all white, of the restaurant politely and ask if they wanted his services. But after a while, the owner of the restaurant came out, grabbed the boy by his jacket, and shoved him into the street like a sack of wet potatoes. The woman mused, “Why did no one say anything or do anything or intervene?” Of course, she herself also did not intervene. And she wondered, “What type of psychological scars did that experience leave on the boy? Would he ever try to earn an honest living after that? Or would he turn to selling drugs? Would he be filled with anger and rage at the wealthy white people who sat, eating their nice meal and sipping their coffees, but doing nothing?

Psychologists in New York staged an experiment. They put a woman in an alley, screaming that she was being attacked and raped. Then they watched to see if passers by would stop and help. But they also staged two people who acted like passers by. When the two decoys ignored the woman’s cries for help, others who passed by followed their lead and did nothing. But when the two decoys ran to the woman’s assistance, so did other passers by. Conclusion: We tend to be people who follow the lead of others. I think that might be what happened at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Follow the leader. But as Christians, we are called to be the leaders – to take a stand, to imitate Jesus.

I want to conclude with two final stories. One is about President Ronald Reagan, and is a good illustration of leadership. When Reagan was president, an 83-year-old woman named Frances Green lived in San Francisco and would give $1 every month to the Republican National Committee out of her Social Security check. One day, the RNC sent her a letter, inviting her to a special dinner at the White House to meet the president. Of course, it said she needed to make a large donation – but she didn’t see that part of the letter. Saving every last cent of her Social Security, she boarded a bus and rode from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. But at the gate of the White House, she was refused admission. Her name was not on the guest list. Standing behind her was a gentleman from Ford Motor Company. Listening in, he intervened and told Frances Green, “Come back tomorrow at 9 a.m. to the White House, and I’ll arrange for you to get a tour.” Next day, the tour was arranged. But as Frances Green toured the White House, Ronald Reagan came out from a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saw Frances off in a corner and said, “Hi, Frances! Those darned computers have fouled up again! If I had known you were coming yesterday, I would’ve been there to welcome you myself!”

All of us can be Good Samaritans and Good Neighbors – Presidents, Ford Motor Company executives, woman like Frances Green on a fixed income from Social Security.

My last story is from yesterday’s newspaper – “Dear Abby. It’s a modern day version of our gospel. A woman wrote: “Dear Abby: My husband and I raised our two sons and two daughters. One son and both daughters married well. Our other son, “Neil,” is gay. He and his partner, “Ron,” have been together for 15 years, but Neil’s father and I never wanted to know Ron because we disapproved of their lifestyle. When I was 74, my husband died, leaving me in ill health and nearly penniless. No longer able to live alone, I asked my married son and two daughters if I could “visit” each of them for four months a year. {I didn’t want to burden any one family, and thought living out of a suitcase would be best for everyone.) All three turned me down. I wanted to die. When Neil and Ron heard what had happened, they invited me to move across country and live with them. They welcomed me into their home, and even removed a wall between two rooms so I’d have a bedroom with a private bath and sitting room – although we spend most of our time together. They include me in many of their plans. Since I moved in with them, I have traveled more than I have my whole life and seen places I only read about in books. They never mention the fact that they are supporting me, or that I ignored them in the past. When old friends ask how it feels living with my gay son, I tell them I hope they’re lucky enough to have one who will take them in one day. Please continue urging your readers to accept their children as they are. My only regret is that I wasted 15 years. – Grateful mom.”

And Jesus concluded, “In your opinion, which one of these … acted like a neighbor…?” The teacher of the law answered him, “The one who was kind to him.” Jesus replied, “You go, then, and do the same.”-- Luke 10:36-37, TEV