On one of my normal outbursts in the car about the stupidity of other drivers, my wife just looked at me and shook her head. “What’s that all about?” I asked.  She asked me how could I write meaningful articles and then behave like that. This was said not with animosity, but with her loving, gentle concern. Afterwards, I thought about her statement and the embedded implications.

At no time, would I ever consider myself a role model. I am like everyone else in this world, striving to grow in patience and love and kindness. At times, these goals seem attainable. And then, we are put to the test, and that is when, we realize how much more work we still have to do. The plight of mankind… we dream of wondrous things, of doing heroic works, of being the last bastion of strength. But our dreams meet up with reality and we realize that much that we dream about is just that, dreams. Heroic deeds will cry out for a champion, but our ears seem unable or refuse to listen. If the last stronghold of strength depends on us, surely, our cause will be doomed.

 We are weak, but before we give up, we should realize that we do have something that can lift us totally out of our weaknesses. Christ knows us better than we know ourselves. He sees our failures, but He also sees us pick ourselves up, again and again. He knows our weaknesses and our inner hearts. Christ was forgiving us, even as He was dying for us. Our lives can be everything we want them to be, if only, we walk to Him and with Him.

We each have, through our Baptism, an apostolic ministry, much like that of the early Christians. Our mission is first and foremost, to know Christ, to see His goodness, to experience His love, to believe in His forgiveness and mercy. Once we begin to experience this, then our love for Him will grow, must grow. It would be impossible for our love not to grow. The joy that we experience will radiate in us. This love, this joy cannot be contained within us, nor should it. Of necessity, we will want others to know Him, to experience His goodness and love, to feel His forgiveness and mercy. We don’t have to walk around with a bible or cross in our hands. We only need to show the joy, the happiness, the love that is in our hearts. Sharing these feelings with those we meet, will speak volumes to the world. And we, though weak and stumbling, will proclaim the wondrous deeds of Christ, heroically, with strength and intensity. And they will know we are Christians by our love.