The Gospel today is one we use a lot at funerals. I think of all the people in my life I’ve loved who worked hard and gave so much in their lives in many ways and now they rest happily in Christ. I also think about those around me today who quietly work heroically to make the lives of those around us safer, better, more just, and more beautiful and more kind.
The work may be what we may do for a living, but what we do for God, our prayer, good works, and encouragement we give others, is just as crucial to our world.
Growing up, I learned that hard work presents itself in a million ways, and God sees the good work we do, even if the world can’t, or even won’t. The work we do may seem
small or even inconsequential at times to us, but if our work is making the lives around us better, it is indeed of the Lord, and it is blessed.
YOU ARE CALLED
There is an old tradition that the Creator sends each person into this world with a special message to deliver, with a special song to sing for others, with a special act of love to bestow. No one else can speak my message, or sing my song, or offer my act of love. These have been entrusted only to me.
According to this tradition, the message may be spoken, the song sung, the act of love delivered to a few, or to all the people in a small town, or to all the people in a large city, or even to all the people in the whole world. It all depends on God’s unique plan for each unique person.
So from my heart, I want to say this to you – please believe that you have an important message to deliver, you have a beautiful song to sing, and a unique act of love to warm this world and to brighten its darkness.
And when the final history of the world is written, your message, your song, and your love will be recorded gratefully and forever.
John Powell, SJ