"Your Life's Partner"

Wishing to encourage her young son's progress on the piano, a mother took her boy to a Paderewski concert. After they were seated, the mother had spotted a friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to greet her.

Seizing the opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall, the little boy rose and eventually explored his way through a door marked "No Admittance."

When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother returned to her seat and discovered that the child was missing.

Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlights focused on the impressive Steinway on stage. In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard innocently picking out "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

At that moment, the great piano master made his entrance, quickly moved to the piano, and whispered in the boy's ear,

"Don't quit. Keep playing." Then leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in bass part. Soon his right arm reached around to the other side of the child and he added a running obligatio.

Together, the old master and the young novice transformed a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience. The audience was mesmerized.

That's the way it is with God. What we can accomplish on our own is hardly noteworthy. We try our best, but the results aren't exactly graceful flowing music. But with the hand of the Master, our life's work truly can be beautiful.

Next time you set out to accomplish great feats, listen carefully. You can hear the voice of the Master, whispering in your ear, "Don't quit. Keep playing." Feel His loving arms around you. Know that His strong hands are helping you turn your feeble attempts into true masterpieces.

Remember that God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called.

And He'll always be there to love and guide you on to great things.

If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following...

57 Asians...21 Europeans (14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south)

and 8 Africans

52 would be female...48 would be male

70 would be non-white...30 would be white

70 would be non-Christian...30 would be Christian

89 would be heterosexual...11 would be homosexual

6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be

from the United States

80 would live in substandard housing

70 would be unable to read

50 would suffer from malnutrition

1 would be near death

1 (yes! only 1) would have a college education

1 would own a computer

When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for both acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.

Signals

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions.

But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger. "God, how could you do this to me!" he cried.

Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him.

"How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers.

"We saw your smoke signal," they replied.

It is easy to get discouraged when things are going bad. But we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering.

Remember, next time your little hut is burning to the ground----it just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.

About the new movie Dogma:

"I am also familiar with the types at William Donohue's small but loud Catholic League which is protesting this film as blasphemous.

Every church has that crowd -- the holier than thous who want to be your moral traffic cop; when they run meetings they drive you crazy with Robert's Rules of Order. It's interesting that no official church spokesmen has seconded them. You'd think the church might tell the league to stop embarrassing it, but no, that would be no better than the league attacking Smith. We are actually free in this country to disagree about religion, and blasphemy is not a crime."

"Those whose approach to religion is spiritual will have little trouble with Dogma because they will understand the characters are imperfect, sincere, clumsy seekers trying to do the right thing.

Those who see religion more as a team, a club, a hobby, or a pressure group are upset. This movie takes theological matters out of the hands of the 'spokesmen' and entrusts it to -- well, the unwashed. And goes so far as to suggest that God loves them." Roger Ebert

 

"It's creator, Smith, is a devout Catholic who dares explore (exploit?) the teachings, tenets and mysteries of his church with a diabolical humor that tests the depths of tastelessness...'Could a non-Catholic have made this film?' he is asked...'I doubt it.' Smith says 'Because it's politically incorrect?' 'Because it was so hard for me to make it and I'm somebody who loves the Catholic church.'

In a Catholic upbringing, one is taught that God's capacity for forgiveness is immeasurable, that unqualified love for one's fellow man and tolerance are among life's greatest virtues...Villains and harlots are depicted in the Bible but are not judged harshly by a deity who forgives their flaws.

Righteous anger, however, fuels the Catholic League... 'The people who are offended by my film, they probably feel that they're being attacked as Catholics,' says Smith, 'They make it so personal. It's just a film.'

'But if a film seemed anti-Semitic, shouldn't someone Jewish protest it?' he is asked. 'Or if a white director's film uses the N word, shouldn't an African-American be offended by it?' 'I can see that,' Smith says, 'but as a Catholic, you're not an ethnicity or a minority. You're not born to it. It's a chosen faith.'...

Some Catholics won't forgive him. The good news is, God will."

Mike Downey

 

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