From the Pastor's Desk: Archives

October 4, 2015

On September 5, after Saturday evening Mass, a parishioner found $100 in cash lying on the ground of the parking lot in the Parish Center. Without hesitation she turned the money in to me. On that very evening we found the owner. She was so grateful to the honest finder as the money she had lost was saved by her son through a low paying job to help pay for the son's medical insurance.

This reminds me about the story I read about Glen James, a man from Boston who found a lost backpack in the South Bay Mall two years ago. Curious, he opened the pack and discovered, to his surprise, $2,400 in cash and another $40,000 in traveler's checks. Looking around, he attempted to find its owner to no avail. What to do? For many of us, the thought of keeping the backpack might cross our mind, and in Glen's situation, we would understand. Glen is homeless. Eight years ago, he lost his job as a court clerk and is living in a local shelter, scraping by day by day in order to make ends meet. Faced with the same situation, we might rationalize the discovery as a heaven sent windfall. Yet without hesitation, Glen turned the pack in to the police who quickly found its owner, a student who is studying abroad from China. In a statement that he read at a special commendation by the Police Commissioner, Glen said, "Even if I were desperate for money, I would not have kept even a penny of the money I found. I am extremely religious - God has always very well looked after me."

Glen's and our honest parishioner's story is a beautiful illustration of what it means to live Jesus' Gospel challenge: to be trustworthy in all that we do. Faith calls us to invest, not in what we have, but in who we are in relation to Christ. Sometimes we think that our daily routine is a barrier to the spiritual life. If we only had more time to pray, to organize a great service project or volunteer, then we would be closer to God, we would be further down the path of holiness. And yet, God calls us to holiness precisely through our daily work. There is no matter so small, no action too trivial that it does not have eternal effects. Mother Teresa famously said that we are not often called to do great things, but rather, "small things with great love." This week, we ask for the strength, not to do extraordinary things, but to trust that when we are faithful in the small and ordinary, it is there that we discover the treasure of Christ.