That’s What You Get!

Details: 22 February 2013

If you refuse to believe we are born with the stain of Original Sin, put one toy firetruck in a room with two 4-year-old boys and see what happens.

That said, even though our souls are infused with Divine Life, or Sanctifying Grace, or Love, at Baptism and even more so with Confirmation, our cooperation is required to grow in the love of God and neighbor. Since we receive infusions of Sanctifying Grace with the reception of all the sacraments, receiving Holy Communion and the Sacrament of Penance on a frequent basis is a tremendous aid in growing in the virtue of charity. Another way to say it is that aided with God’s grace, we need to learn how to love.

Recently, a husband and wife with six small children noticed their 5-year-old son Daniel (who has a severe peanut allergy) scratching at the grocery store. After noticing, dad asked, "Daniel, did you just eat something?" "Yes dad, I ate something I found on the floor!" It became readily apparent it must have been some candy containing peanuts.

After being strapped in his car seat, he promptly vomited. His siblings immediately complained about the odor. Soon Daniel cried out in a dramatic way, "I’m going to die, I’m going to die!!"

His little sister Madeline then exclaimed to mom, dad and everyone else in the van in an equally dramatic fashion, "He’s going to die!" After this his 7-year-old sister Molly said, "That’s what you get when you eat something off the floor!"

Yes, charity is something that we all must learn with God’s grace. After an ER visit, he quickly recovered and is doing fine.

Recently, some older gradeschool children at St. Teresa in Lincoln conducted a coin drive and donated $212.17 to Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska. This was done because of their love of God and neighbor. On Ash Wednesday, Elise Kreikemeier and Madison Stockman came to CSS with their teacher Emily Hoeller with the check. After a brief tour, we posed for a photo in our lobby in front of the picture of the Holy Family and entrance to our St. Joseph Chapel. I told them both how much this helps assisting us in aiding individuals and families that come to us in need.

As we continue our Lenten journey, let us cooperate more fully in the graces that God has given us so we can return that love back to Him by loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Finally, thank you to Msgr. Nemec, the staff and students at St. Teresa’s for this tremendous gift!