“I’m very weak,” she said courageously. “The disease I have is very rare. I only have a few months to live. But it’s also taken my sight.” Then she said, “I have a bible here – could you read some of it for me?”

Let me tell you, that’s like asking Pavorati if he wants to sing, or LeBron James if he wants to play hoop. “Sure – what would you like to hear?”

“I like John chapter 6.” So I opened the scriptures and read the chapter to her as best I could.

She received the Lord in Holy Communion, and afterwards, before I left, she stopped me and said, “I’m going home in a few days – could you call me and read the Bible once in a while?” Ummm … weell … I don’t normally cross those boundaries, but something about this time … OK. She put her name and number in large letters on a piece of paper.

About a week later or so, I called her up, and began to read the Bible to her. She experienced a great deal of pain and anguish over her disease, which was slowly but painfully taking her life. The Lord Jesus had brought her back to the Church only a few years earlier after a half-broken life, and she had requested that she might be a victim soul for Him. A few months later, she was diagnosed with this painful, rare, terminal illness.

But Dana had great wisdom and spiritual insight, a great and personal love for Jesus, and just listening to her, even in the midst of her periods of discouragement, was inspiring to me. It was just such a privilege to be able to know this suffering saint.

I knew that this young woman was so especially precious to Jesus, and I knew that my visits that day I met her were all about her.

How Jesus loves those who believe in Him! What a privilege it is to share in His love and service to His little ones!

If you give yourself entirely to Jesus, if you follow Him, you will be with Him in His greatest works. “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” (Jn 12:26)

But you won’t just be an observer, not just a passive fly on the wall. No, He will send you in His name, and your hands, your feet, your face, your voice, your words, all these will be His.

“So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.” (2 Cor 5:20)

And He will do His greatest works of mercy through you.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
And recovering of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed,
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Lk 4:18-19)

So, I went to the local hotel lobby. They have wireless access there, and they’ve let me use it in the past. “Could I use the wireless internet access.” Sorry, guests only. Has something changed? We’ve just started enforcing the policy. I would have to pay $200 and become a guest to use their internet access.

So, I went off to Starbucks. I bought a coffee and asked, “Is there wireless internet access here?” The young woman checked with another employee, another young woman Eva.

Eva came back to me.

If you have a Starbucks card, you can use the internet for a fee. “Yeah, it’s not a good system,” she said. “It’s totally not free, whatsoever.”

Then another employee chimed in, “But you can get the first two hours for free.” “But, you have to register with the Starbucks card, and that costs money,” she said. Then she looked right at me and said, “Totally not free, whatsoever.”

Then she leaned in a little closer and said, “But you know, there’s a Starbucks in the Borders across the way in the Prudential Mall. Borders just started free wifi throughout their entire store.” The whole store? Yup. “Thank you very much!”

Starbucks lost out on some money, but I did find out about a free internet spot.

That young woman saved the day for me. How did she do it? She freely told the truth. She didn’t pipe the company line, she didn’t keep things harmonious and comfortable, she told the truth. The truth – and me – was more important to her than Starbucks. I appreciate that, and I am very grateful to her.

Remember the parable of the unrighteous mammon? It’s a parable that the Lord told about a rich man who had an employee who was “wasting his goods.” Well, you know what, I bet that the rich man was not very generous with his goods. I bet he was a tightwad with his money. We know he had people in debt to him, and this was against the Hebrew Law. I think that he had “not a good system”, a system that was totally not free, whatsoever, for anyone. I bet it was unrighteous mammon.

How did the employee waste his goods? I bet he gave customers the heads up. I bet he freely told the truth. I bet he didn’t pipe the company line and make things harmonious and comfortable. I bet the truth – and the customer – was more important to him than the rich man’s property.

Pope John Paul II has called our modern global culture a “culture of death.” Pope Benedict has explained that the economic system we have now is essentially unrighteous, unrighteous mammon. And it’s dying.

We’ve all been given a gift of being stewards of unrighteous mammon. So, here’s the question: Is the Lord more important than it all?

Do we join ourselves to the dying culture and go along with it? Do we try to stand outside of it and resist it? In other words, do we serve it? Or, instead, do we enter it and use it to love and make friends with its debtees, “so that when [the unrighteous mammon] fails they may receive you into eternal habitations” (Lk 16:9)? Do we serve the Lord with it?

It’s then that we enter into the Lord’s work of saving people’s days and producing love. And storing up our own inheritance.

“He who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then, you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Lk 16:10-13)

Her Little Way has been so recognized by the Church that she is one of only three female “doctors” – or master teachers – of the Church. But not only that, she developed it without much formal training, and at a very young age, dying at 24 years old.

So what is the Little Way?

Yesterday I picked up the local paper and poked through the section on the Red Sox. There was an article on Theo Epstein, who is one of the main guys in the Red Sox who makes the management decisions. “Theo Epstein confident” was the title. He is one of the youngest of these managers in all of baseball, but he is confident because he has a certain process, a little way, of managing that is new to baseball and considered genius. He relies on objective truth as much as possible, and not emotions and gut feelings. He is a big reason for the Red Sox winning two World Series over the past 5 years.

So, the reporters asked him, how about the trades they made to help the team? Trades are 50-50, he replied. Hit or miss. It’s all about the process. “Really we look back at the process. I like our process.”

Then the reporters asked him about his gut feeling for the team, if it was like the other teams that won World Series. “I try not to have too many gut feelings about the roster, because then if you rely solely on your gut, your gut changes,” he said.

He keeps his eye on the only thing that matters for the General Manager: “All that matters is: How good are we and how are we going to play in October? And I think we’re good; I think we’re really good.” The only important moments are right now and the final test.

In Therese’s Little Way, we recognize that our own opinions and decisions turn out 50-50, some good, some bad. It’s the best we can do. It’s all about the process we are in, about relying on Truth Himself: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (Jn 14:6) We don’t rely on our gut feelings, because those change, and so we are free to abandon ourselves to the only two important moments: now and the hour of death.

Therese’s Little Way is the Lord’s Way. When you are in this Way, you’ll like the Process and love to rely on the Process.

Then, you’ll always be confident.

Happy belated memorial of St. Therese!

Why so many? Why do people want coffee – and Dunkin Donuts – so much?

Well, the other day, I drove up to the Dunkin Donuts in the gas station and went inside to get my usual decaf coffee. I went up to the counter: "Could I have a medium decaf, milk and sugar?" The young woman taking my order asked, "Was that milk and sugar?" Yes.

"Everybody wants milk and sugar."

Remember the promised land? When God saw that the Israelites were severely oppressed and enslaved in Egypt, He came to bring them out of that place and He promised to bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey:

“I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Ex 3:7-8)

What does that mean, a land flowing with milk and honey? Well, you can’t have milk without cattle, and you can’t have cattle without a lot of land, and you can’t have property like that unless you have prosperity. And, you can’t have honey without bees, and, well, imagine trying to keep beehives when you’re always fighting wars. So, God was promising the Israelites in their own language a land of peace and prosperity, a true home.

The Lord has sent His Son to come down and deliver us from our own oppressions and bring us to our own true home. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.” (Jn 14:6)

He is everyone’s milk and sugar.

“Everyone is searching for you.” (Mk 1:37)

Are you overworked, oppressed and feeling enslaved by life? Do you look for your coffee fix, your Dunkies fix, your milk and sugar each day?

He is always in the tabernacle at church, in the Eucharist. He is always waiting to be found: “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11:28)

Now, I don’t quite know what kind of wood that door is made of, but it’s the hardest wood I’ve ever encountered. Even with a fully charged battery the drill labored, slowed down, and came to a halt. We hardly made any progress, and the drill would run out of juice. Nothing’s getting through that, I’m thinking. It’s super-hard wood.

Well, it just so happened that in fishing around, I found an old corded electric drill in the garage. “Let’s give this a shot.” This drill doesn’t have its own battery power – instead it plugs into an outlet. Well, we plugged it in and gave it a few whirls and it started up. So, we put it to the test.

Sure enough, it sawed right through the super-hard wood. Why? Because it was plugged in. It was connected directly to the 120-volt, 15-amp line power supply.

What does that mean? That means that it was plugged into the national power grid. It was plugged into the power source. The drill could draw as much juice from the source as it needed to saw through that rock-hard wood.

We all encounter an insurmountable mountain of an obstacle in life. For this, trying to work through it on our own power won’t cut it. We need to be attached to the power source, Jesus Christ. I can do all things in him who strengthens me. (Php 4:13) Attached to Him, we can draw as much of HIs Spirit as we need.

Then, we can cut through anything.

I will help you, says the LORD;
Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
Behold, I will make of you a threshing sledge,
New, sharp, and having teeth;
You shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
And you shall make the hills like chaff;
You shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them away,
And the tempest shall scatter them.
And you shall rejoice in the LORD;
In the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.(Is 41:14-16)

The concert was outdoors in a local park, and when I got there, I realized I had made a big mistake. I looked around and noticed everyone else had something that I didn’t have: a place to sit. Some people had blankets, some people had lawn chairs, some even had towels. Otherwise, there was fresh, green grass. That wouldn’t get along with my very light-colored khaki pants. “Big mistake,” I thought to myself. The only spot I could see was a little bench way off in the distance, outside the whole performance area.

I wandered about a little forlorn, looking around at all the blankets and chairs, hoping there might be a spot. No luck.

Then, all of a sudden, I noticed a clump of chairs right at the front. Except for a man and a woman, they were completely empty, and it was starting time for the concert. They looked like they were reserved for important people, but, see, I really wanted to be at the very front to hear Clare play. Hmm, I wondered who they were for. I decided to go and ask.

“Excuse me, are these seats reserved?” “We’re not sure what they’re for. But please, have a seat.” “OK.” I figured I’d sit there until I found out what they were for, in other words, until someone kicked me out. Anyway, this friendly guy seemed to enjoy my company. “Well, they’ll kick me out if they’re reserved.” “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that. I’m the composer.”

This guy was a world-class composer of the first music piece of the evening, and he was there because tonight was the world premier. We chatted about his music, he told me about his frustration with having to re-write the music after the lyrics were changed by the author only several weeks ago. I told him I was a friend of Clare, the soloist. “Oh, then you belong here.”

Somehow, I got to spend the concert with him and his wife and friends. After his music, he was invited up on the stage and received an ovation. I got to sit with the guest of honor.

And I got the front-row seating to hear Clare.

Now, see, I’m not a regular at these things, I’m clueless about the classical music scene in Boston. I’m sure there were many people there who would love to have those seats. But it all happened because I really wanted to be at the front for Clare’s concert. It all happened because she is my friend.

The Lord’s big event is His wedding feast. We can make the big mistake of showing up unprepared. When we do, it can look like we’re going to miss out and be on the outside. But if you really want to be there in the front row, if He’s really your friend, if it really means that much to you, don’t give up. Don’t hold back. Look, seek, and ask.

The Lord will give you the seat you really want.

“Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Mt 7:7-8)

Well, several stops later, the man sitting next to her got up to get off the bus. Then the woman did something amazing.

So kindly, she moved over to the guy’s old seat, and offered me back my original seat. I couldn’t believe it. It was such an unexpected and moving gesture. So, I took my old seat back, and we sat together and talked a bit until she got off. I thought, what a privilege to be next to such a person. I’ll never forget it.

Why did she do that? I think it’s because she appreciated the giver more than the gift. Why do I think that? Because she was willing to give up the gift to be with the giver.

What inspired the disciples to leave all the good gifts God had given them and follow Jesus? What moved them to give back to God their families, their careers, their possessions?

They appreciated the Giver more than the gifts.

And so they got to be next to Him, they got to be with Him and speak with Him. They got to be with the Son of God Himself and form a bond with Him that He never forgot. They got a share of His Life: eternal life.

The Lord offers us His seat along the way of life. He offers us the gift of His place. He gives us all His best things: our family, friends, possessions, career. It’s great to receive all these things, He’s very pleased when we do.

But there’s a problem. When we keep those things for ourselves, we can’t be next to Him. But if we offer them back to Him, we get even better:

We get Him.

“And every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.” (Mt 19:29)

Now, the main front door of the house has a lock that is probably as old as the house. It’s a deadbolt with a key hole on each side. It’s rock solid and has a specialized cut to it. So, because a new lock wouldn’t fit the same way, and because this original is so solid and has the nostalgia factor going for it, it was decided that it would be best to keep the old lock and spruce it up. Nate offered to polish it. And a few days ago, he brought it back.

Wow, did it look good. As long as I’ve been alive, it had always looked dull and blackened, but now it was shiny brass. Great, I thought.

But Nate said there’s one problem.

It doesn’t work.

What? I put the key in and turned. Nothing. It didn’t work.

We tried assembling it on the door, and that didn’t help. I thought maybe the brass cleaner had just clogged it up. So, we tried WD-40. Then we tried WD-40 again. And then again. But whatever we tried, it still wasn’t working. Finally, I said, “Nate, let’s go to a locksmith. He’ll know. There’s probably something simple that we’re missing.”

So we went up the street to the locksmith.

“Hello, I have this lock, and it doesn’t seem to be working. We polished it up, and I think brass polish might have clogged it or something. We used a little WD-40 on it.” I handed him the lock, and WD-40 oozed out of all it’s crevices.

He took the lock and the key and started working it. He flipped it over, rotated it, turned the key, and played with a little piece on the back of it, a piece that we couldn’t figure out. Then he put the odd little piece in just the right position, and viola. “It works,” he said. He took a marker and marked on the lock how the odd little piece should be positioned for it to work.

Can I give you something for this? No.

And that was it. Two minutes, if that, and the key was opening the lock.

Nate laughed, “How embarrassing. I feel this big.”

“This is great!” I laughed. “The lock works!”

Each of us, like Peter, has been given the keys to God’s Kingdom. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 16:19) In the Church, we are given all the things we need to unlock the Kingdom and enter. But what happens if you’re confused by them? What happens if you struggle to put things together and use them?

What happens when your key doesn’t open the lock?

Then it’s time to go to the Locksmith. If you try to do it yourself, it becomes a mess. But the Locksmith will know. A few twists and turns, and He’ll get the key working. You have to be little, you have to be ready to feel “this big”, but it’s worth it.

You get the Kingdom of heaven.

“Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 19:14)

One student who came in regularly was Corey. Back then, he was a little seventh-grader with big eyeglasses and a huge backpack. Each Saturday, he showed up for his tutoring session with me with a big smile. Why a big smile for tutoring on Saturday morning?

Well, because you see, both Corey and I were big fans of the Simpsons.

So, once he sat down, out came all the Simpsons episodes from the past week’s re-runs. And all my Simpsons impersonation talents were put to good use. There’s the Montgomery Burns’ “Eeexcellent Smithers!”, Homer’s “Doah!”, Martin’s “My cat’s breath smells like cat food!”, Barney’s belch, Principal Skinner, Apu, Groundskeeper Willie, Krusty the Klown, Mayor Quimby, Moe, Otto, Chief Wiggum, the list goes on.

For the first ten minutes we laughed about the Simpsons. Everyone else was at work tutoring and tuteeing away, and we were laughing and joking.

And then, I would say, “OK, you ready?” At that point, I tell you, I never had a student so focused, so quick to learn as Corey. We plowed through all the problems, all the work, like it was nothing. I tutored for over ten years, and I never had anyone catch on so quickly and improve so much. His math grade went from D to A. He went from one of the worst to one of the best.

Well, at the end of the term, all the tutors got little “awards” of appreciation. When I went up to get mine, the director said to me, “Jerome, you have a special note on the back of yours.” When I got back to my seat I turned it over. She had written a note: “Thank you for your commitment to the Saturday Success School. Corey said you were the best tutor he ever had.”

Why?

Because we were joined through the Simpsons, of all things. It was the thing Corey loved the most.

We were joking and yoking.

The Lord is the great Tutor of life, and he calls us to be joined to Him by a yoke: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Mt 11:28-30)

What does He mean by lowly in heart? How is His yoke easy?

Because He yokes Himself to us through our favorite things.

Nobody really likes having to get a tutor, because it usually means you’re familiar with failure. You have to focus attention on your weakness. It’s not restful and it’s not easy. But the Lord knows exactly what we like. And He is lowly in heart. When we go to Him for help, He’s going to meet us in our favorite things. He gives us the lift we need, the comfort that gives us confidence and puts us at ease to trust Him and follow Him.

If the Lord calls you to Himself, don’t be afraid of the Tutor or what He’s going to ask of you.

Go. He will put you at ease and make you a great disciple, because He is lowly in heart.

He will take you from your worst to your best. He’ll be the best tutor you’ll ever have.

So, I eventually drove my car to the T and took the train to the school. After a few questions along the way, and sifting through a few hallways, I finally found the room. But I was late.

I stopped at the door to the recital room, and I could hear beautiful music. I looked through the door, and I couldn’t believe what I saw. There was a guy playing the piano, and there was Clare, who always seemed quiet and reserved, pouring her whole heart into her cello music. I had never seen her like that before – I was amazed.

So, after the first intermission, I made it in and found a seat near another friend of mine that I saw. We sat there and listened, and I tell you, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing. There were times when she was playing the instrument with the bow, and then with just her fingers, all with such an energetic and fast pace. And the piano player! He was going a mile a minute, too, with his hands all over the place. I was just in awe. To me, what they were doing was impossible.

At the end of the recital, while everyone was giving the fourth curtain call, I turned to my friend and said, “I don’t think I’ll ever see anything like this for the rest of my life.”

So, a lot of people got in line to congratulate her, and one of her classmates and I got to chatting and I asked him, “Is she the best in the school? Or do all you guys play like that?” He looked at me funny. “You don’t know ‘The Clare’? Tonight, you’re seeing ‘The Clare’. Definitive.”

I was seeing one of the best cellists in the world in all her glory, in the event that defines who she is. What a privilege! But when I accepted the invitation, I had no idea what was in store. There was no bragging, no air about her that made me think that she was a world-class artist. That greatness was completely hidden.

Remember when Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James, and John on top of the mountain? There was Moses and Elijah speaking with Him about His coming Passion. Now, Moses represents the Law, and Elijah represents the prophets, so that the apostles would understand that Jesus was in agreement with the law and the prophets. This defines who Jesus is, a fulfillment of the law and prophets. The Passion? That was the event that would also define for the world who Jesus is, the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And, as if that weren’t enough, after the conversation, Moses and Elijah disappeared, and Jesus was left alone as the Father Himself defined who He is in the most clear words: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (Mt 17:5)

These apostles were getting to see Him in all His glory. That day, they knew Him truly as “The Lord”. Definitive.

See, Jesus kept His glory and greatness hidden. There was no air about Him that He was divine. They got to see His glory because of one reason:

They accepted His invitation.

Jesus’ glory and greatness are completely hidden from us. He wants to reveal them to each of us, because it’s only then that we can truly know Him. He offers us a free invitation, and even if it comes at the last minute, even if you have other things going on, let me offer you a piece of advice:

Accept it. Go.

Then, you’ll know Him as “The Lord.”

Definitive.