Blessings!

This week I have been reading a book that was published in 1969 by Father John Powell, SJ called: WHY AM I AFRAID TO TELL YOU WHO I AM? I kept reading the following section over and over. I think you might be able to relate. I needed to use it a couple of times this week.

“The fully human person is an ACTOR not a REACTOR. The syndicated columnist, Sydney Harris, tells the story of accompanying his friend to a newsstand. The friend greeted the newsman very courteously, but in return received gruff and discourteous service. Accepting the newspaper which was shoved rudely in his direction, the friend of Harris politely smiled and wished the newsman a nice week-end. As the two friends walked back down the street, the columnist asked:

“Does he always treat you so rudely?”

“Yes, unfortunately he does.”

“And are you always so polite and friendly to him?”

“Yes I am.”

“Why are you so nice to him when he is so unfriendly to you?”

“Because I don’t want him to decide how I’m going to act.”

This hit me like a ton of bricks. I am always falling into the trap of another’s mood. However, God gave us humans something special. We don’t have to always act like an animal. We can ‘think’ through what is going on. So often, we believe that family and the people we encounter can change our mood. NO! it doesn’t have to be that way.

Father John goes on to say, “The suggestion is that the ‘fully human’ person is ‘her own person’, that she does not bend to every wind which blows, that she is not as the mercy of all the pettiness, the meanness, the impatience, and anger of others. Atmospheres do not transform her as much as she transforms them. “

“The fully alive person listens to, is attuned to her senses and emotions, but surrendering to them would imply abdication of intellect and choice, those precise powers which make human beings more than brute animals, though a little less than angels…”

Beloved, I was walking on the beach at sundwon one day this week when I encountered a beautiful bird who was just sitting there. I noticed that the poor creature was dieing. I sat with the bird for about twenty minutes. I watched her breathing slow down. I made a choice to be with her. I wasn’t sad, I wasn’t happy. I was in a spiritual way. If I can make the choice to sit and observe a bird, I can sit and observe those that are mean or moody in a peaceful state. I don’t have to allow anyone to determine how I am going to act.

Have a most blessed week in God’s beautiful world.

Love, joy, peace,

Father Ron Moses +

www.tearinthedesert.com

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