From My Point of Pew: 02.09.14

Readings from Sunday, February 9, 2014, the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Fr. Mike had a great homily today. When he was little there was a kid in his neighborhood whose dad worked at the ice cream factory. The boy’s dad would bring home a new ice cream everyday. He was so jealous. But then one day the little boy invited him over to play at his house. The little boy’s dad showed hi m the freezer and told him that he could eat any ice cream and as much as he wanted. Fr. Mike said he dug in and ate four or five different kinds of ice cream: Drumsticks, etc. He was in heaven. He couldn’t think of anything he wanted more. Then his stomach started to feel funny. You can imagine the rest. He was so sick. In the middle of being sick Fr. Mike said he learned the lesson that sometimes what we think is going to make us happy ends up doing the opposite. Much later in his life, Fr. Mike was visiting his brother’s widow. It had just snowed so he went outside and shoveled her driveway and the sidewalk in front of her house. He thought about it and realized there were several other widows that lived on that street and he went and shoveled the snow off their driveways, too. When he was done, he said he felt like he was on top of the world. He gave thanks God for sending us His wisdom. God’s wisdom is always good and right. Sometimes we want to think what we’re doing is the good and right thing and will make us happy but if it doesn’t come from God than it won’t. As it said in the Gospel, we must allow God’s light and wisdom to work through us. We can’t hide from it or push it away but instead embrace it and glorify it in our lives.