To all you Dads out there: a very happy Father's Day!
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time B
Robert
Sargent Shriver died last year
at the age of 95.
A
devout Catholic,
he had led a very full and noteworthy life:
he
graduated from Yale
and volunteered for the US Navy;
he
married into the powerful Kennedy family
and had five children;
he
ran for Vice President
and served as American ambassador to France;
and served as American ambassador to France;
he
was the founding director of the Peace Corps
and
helped his wife, Eunice,
start the Special Olympics.
His
son, Mark, recalls that when his dad died
it
seemed like everybody knew him,
and
it also seemed that everybody—
from
politicians to priests to trash collectors—
had
the very same thing to say: “He was a good
man.”
Mark
Shriver has just written a memoir about his dad
A Good Man: Rediscovering My
Father, Sargent Shriver.
And
in a recent interview about the book,
he
takes the opportunity to reflect upon the difference
between
being good and being great
Great men and women, he says, because
of their ambition
have
lots of money, power, or prestige…
…but
you probably wouldn’t want to have dinner
or a drink with them.
They
have accomplished remarkable things,
but they’re often not nice, and they don’t treat people right;
but they’re often not nice, and they don’t treat people right;
“when
the lights are turned off and no one's paying attention,
they're
not good."
Mark
says that his father, on the other hand,
was as kind to the waitress at his favorite restaurant
and the guy at the airport ticket counter
was as kind to the waitress at his favorite restaurant
and the guy at the airport ticket counter
as
he was to presidents and cardinals and business executives.
Little
wonder they all said the same: “He was a
good man.”
Mark
Shriver wrote his book because he wanted to figure out
just
what was the secret to his father’s good life.
“What
was the key to that life that he led?” he asks.
“That
he was happily married for 56 years to the woman of his dreams,
that
he raised five kids that all love him,
that
he had countless friends.
He
went to Mass on a daily basis,
yet
he still did all of these great things,” Mark says.
“I
think it really was his faith that gave him that foundation.”
In
the gospel this Sunday, Jesus tells us two parables about seeds.
What
a wise teacher Jesus is to use parables!
By teaching
through such open-ended stories,
Jesus
lets each of us apply them to our own lives,
and
thus they remain just as vivid and relevant now
as when
first spoken nearly 2,000 years ago.
So
on this Father’s Day,
and
in these final days leading up to graduation for the Class of 2012,
there
is something to be learned from these parables of the seeds—
the
scattered seeds that grow unseen to yield a rich harvest of grain;
the
mustard seed which starts out so small a tiny bird can eat it,
but
that has the potential to out forth large branches
in
which many birds can make their home.
(cf. R.
Bensen)
To
all you dads: Be good men.
While
your children and grandchildren may be rightly impressed
by
the many great things you’re able to
accomplish,
remember
that it’s the small things you do, the good
things,
that
will matter most in the end.
Be
good men, and be men of God.
Scatter
seeds of faith in the hearts of your children—
something
done best not with words alone,
or through
show of brute strength,
but
by your own good example.
Faith
grows and sprouts in the Lord’s own time, we know not how.
But
it needs to be cultivated and fertilized,
to
be weeded and pruned.
religion
is not “woman’s work.”
Your
fatherhood, your goodness,
is
meant to be a reflection of God’s own.
Whether
you’re here in church or back at home,
off
at work
or casting into your favorite fishing hole,
in
order for our Catholic faith
to flourish and grow strong
in the
hearts of generations to come,
we
need your constant, courageous witness
to that faith today.
And
to our graduates:
You
stand ready to turn the page
on a new chapter in your lives.
There’s
much excitement—
and a little fear, I’m sure—
about
all that lies ahead.
Your
minds are filled with dreams
of doing great things.
Pursue
those dreams! Aim high!
But
in your desire to do great and important things,
do
not neglect to be good,
for
to be good men and women
would
be your greatest achievement of all.
Great
people oftentimes forget their roots,
but
good people stay in touch
with their humble beginnings.
Allow
the seeds of faith, the seeds of the kingdom,
which
have already been sown within you—
no
matter how small and insignificant they may now seem—
allow
these seeds to sprout, to grow, and to ripen to harvest.
Keep
close Christ and close to his Church,
wherever
you go and whatever you do.
In
that is the key to a good life,
for
only God can take our littleness
and
turn it into something both truly good and truly great.
in the high-powered Kennedy-Shriver family
there
could be more pressure
to be great than to be good.
“I
think when you're surrounded by that culture,”
Mark
recalled near the end of the interview,
“where
you're trying to change the world,
or
putting a man on the moon,
or trying to defeat Communism,
for
a kid that can be confusing
because you can think,
'Wow,
I've got to do something like that as well,'
and
I definitely had those thoughts."
But
by watching his father,
Mark
Shriver learned that it’s often harder
to be good than to be great.
"And
that's what my dad did incredibly well,” he says,
balancing
faith and family and friends
and
doing something for the community.
You see, it’s
not enough for any of us to strive for greatness.
God
is calling us to something more—
God’s
calling us to be good.
Lets
each of us allow that small seed to grow.
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