Background:
The August homilies continue to stress the urgency which was one side of the coin of Jesus’s message – the other side being reassurance. We must read the warnings in conjunction with the reassurance.
God is forgiving love.
However we must not waste the opportunities to avail ourselves of that forgiveness or to reflect it in our relationships with others.
Each time we miss such an opportunity there is one less in our life.
Story:
Once upon a time there was a daddy who prided himself on his abilities as a driver. He wouldn’t let the mommy of the family drive when he was in the car. Ever. Nor would he let the one legal teenager drive. They were simply not competent enough, careful enough, responsible enough. Which is to say they were not as competent, careful, and responsible as he was, or thought he was. Moreover, as he drove he favored his family with a running commentary on the mistakes of other drivers. The mommy and the kids, naturally, had long ago learned how to tune out these commentaries. He was generally a nice man and you have to put up with certain things in daddies, don’t you?
WELL, this one day when they were on vacation, they all went over to the local Baskin Robbins for some ice cream. I won’t delay you with a list of the decisions that had to be made (that’s another story which I may have told you already!) Anyway, when they were backing out of their parking place – and it was a very crowded parking lot – the Daddy didn’t see a car that was coming behind him and plowed into it! The car was a brand new Jeep Wrangler. It had the right of way. The daddy was furious, especially because he knew it was his fault. He jumped out of the car and cursed the teenage boy who was the driver of the Wrangler. All the kid could say was you wrecked by graduation present. He had the right of way, the mommy said. Then the kid sighed and made sure that the Mommy and the kids and the dog were all right. I guess we can get it fixed he said. Don’t worry about it. The Daddy wouldn’t apologize, though everyone knew he was wrong. But, like God, the kid forgave him anyway.