FatherRon.com

A true story:
An eight-year-old boy had a young sister who was dying of
leukemia. His parents explained to him that she needed a blood
transfusion and that his blood was probably compatible. They asked if
they could test his blood. Sure, he said. The results showed that his
blood would be a good match. Then they asked if he would give his
sister a pint of his blood, that it could be her only chance of living. He
said he would have to think about it overnight.
The next day he went to his parents and said he was willing to
donate his blood to his sister. So they took him to the hospital where he
was put on a gurney beside his sister. Both of them were hooked up to
IVs. A nurse withdrew a pint of blood from the boy, which was then put
into the girl’s IV. The boy lay on his gurney in silence while the blood
was dripped into his sister. The doctor came over to see how he was
doing. The boy opened his eyes and asked, “How soon until I start to
die?” Every word of the gospel comes down to love. Love that is simple
enough to articulate but so demanding that we shy away from it. The
mystery of God’s love is that the Supreme Being should love creation so
completely and so selflessly – and all God seeks in return is that such
love be shared by people throughout creation. The brother, in our true
story, thinking that giving his blood would mean that he would die,
nonetheless he is willing to give his life to his sister so that she might
live; in his generosity he models the great love and compassion of the
God who spares nothing to bring us to God’s heart. My prayer on this
Sunday is that everyone of us here will seek to follow as best we can one
day at a time the great commandment of the gospel: to love with the
same selfless compassion, care and completeness of God.
It may not be our call to minister to the most unwanted, like lepers
and AIDS victims, war refugees, and immigrants, or alcoholics and drug
addicts, but it is our call to balance in some suitable way, the vertical
dimension of our relationship with other people in mutual service. The praise we give to God with our lips must be followed up by
using those same lips to talk to someone who is lonely, to encourage someone who is disheartened, or to cheer up someone who is sad.
The prayer we say with our hands must be followed up by using
those same hands to hug our children, or spouse, or parents, to prepare a
meal for our family, or to do some housework for a shut-in neighbor.
I close with this image that will be right before you every time you
walk into this church. May the cross formed by the intersection of a
vertical beam with a horizontal one remind us to love God with our
whole being and to love our neighbor as ourselves.