It
doesn't happen often but sometimes a priest will give a sermon that's
so memorable, it stays with you despite the passage of time. My last
entry on this blog had me thinking about one in particular.
Every
now and then, a visiting priest would say Mass at St. Mary Star of
the Sea in Beverly. This unfamiliar face might simply be helping our
pastor out or he could be pitching a cause that the parishioners will
be asked to support during the second collection. I can't remember
why this particular priest was in our church nor do I remember
much about him other than the fact he was old. While at the lectern,
he talked about how we should always give our best effort in life no
matter how small or insignificant the task at hand appeared to be.
We were all connected to each other and our actions had the power to
touch people's lives in ways that were not readily apparent.
Whenever we were careless or lazy, it could have serious unforeseen
consequences.
Then
he told us the story of a teen-aged boy during the 1950s who was
swimming with his friends at a local pond. Like many young people
do, they decided to climb high rocks and dive into the water. When
it was this boy's turn to jump, he disappeared beneath the water and
never resurfaced. His worried friends contacted the authorities and
they dredged the pond only to find his lifeless body. An autopsy
revealed the boy had been impaled by a bayonet from the 1800s that
was sticking straight up from the bottom of the pond. At one time,
there had been a railroad bridge over this body of water and it was
speculated that the bayonet may have come from a long-forgotten
troop train. Did a careless soldier accidentally drop his
bayonet into the pond or did he throw it away on purpose? The
visiting priest then explained that we should always strive to do our best even in the smallest of tasks because it could affect someone's life in a very profound way.
Sometimes
priests like to embellish the facts during their sermons and I
haven't been able to determine if the story about this ill-fated boy
is actually true or not. Over the years, I've heard least two
different priests give the same inaccurate sermon on the construction
of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. They said that after a few
workers fell to their deaths, a large net was set up underneath the
bridge to prevent any more fatalities. The priests went on to liken
the net to our sense of faith which can “catch us” in our time of
need. Well, the history lesson they gave isn't quite right. From
the very beginning of the Golden Gate Bridge's construction, planners
had set up nets to catch workers. While it saved many lives, it did
not prevent the deaths of 10 men when the heavy platform they were on fell and broke through the net.
Even
if our visiting priest's sermon wasn't completely accurate, it
certainly did make an impression and I usually think of it when
moments of carelessness pop up. A few years ago in Boston, a trolley
operator thought nothing of texting someone on his phone
until he crashed into another train and caused life-long injuries for
some of his passengers. In Taiwan, a multistory building collapsed
during an earthquake and it was later revealed the developer cut
corners by placing empty paint cans into the concrete foundation
which weakened the structure. Over 100 innocent people died for
someone else's financial gain.
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| Photo: BBC |
Not
every moment of carelessness will have such devastating consequences
but that doesn't mean we are off the hook when it comes to doing the
right thing. A joyful smile and a concerned ear to the random
stranger (who might be having a bad day) could make a big difference
in their lives. What impression would a scowl and a cold shoulder
have instead? Throwing a small piece of trash on the ground might
seem harmless enough but how many of us have lost precious time
scraping gum from our shoes? Not doing a thorough job of cleaning
our furnace certainly caused a fair share of headaches for my mother
and me.
We
are all God's creations and one thing I love about Christianity is
that it reinforces the notion that our actions no matter how big or
small touch other people's lives. What kind of impact do we want to
make?
