May 4, 2024

My third grade teacher was a religious sister who had a reputation for being tough in class.  She demanded a lot from her students and insisted on a disciplined classroom.  We were in the chapel for Mass one day, and I noticed that she had a tape recorder next to her in the pew.  When we got back to class, one of my classmates asked her about it.  She told us that it was to record us singing, because she thought our voices were beautiful and wanted to listen to us in the evenings.  Even as a child, this was a very humbling and powerful experience for me.  It taught me about the mystery of the human person and the reality of grace.  How easy it is, indeed, to think that the judgments we make about other people are final, instead of the starting point for a deeper and more enduring understanding that is revealed in time.  Deliver me, Lord, from the temptation to draw conclusions about another person’s soul.  Save me from the sin of pride that keeps me from communion.  Never let me think that I could ever speak the last word about another human heart.  Ave Crux, Spes Unica.