Faith Changes Everything
Deacon Michael had a huge heart. And yes, he had a huge temper. But he did not show it often. This was true even before he became a Catholic.
Being a Catholic profoundly changed him, however.
More than that, his ordination changed him. Instead of being the most important guy in the room, he became perfectly obedient. I was constantly amazed by his humility.
When I saw a layman doing something that was the duty of a deacon to perform, I was the one who said, "But that is a deacon's job, why aren't you doing your job instead of that lay person?" I took it badly if a pastor forced him away and told him not to fulfill his duty.
Father Forge at Mary Immaculate never did this. But when it did happen, Michael took it simply, saying, "He is the one in charge. It's completely up to him." And, of course, that is the truth.
Sometimes just knowing something is true does not make it easy to accept, at least not for me.
Written by Laura Weston, widow of Deacon Michael
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There is a commercial on television that drives me crazy, for reasons I'll explain. And it's a man who gets in people's faces. He comes right up there, he stands right in front of them and starts talking to them. Now, my reaction to that would be, "Either, " I would very quietly say, "back up or you're dead." Or simply grab him by the neck, put him up on a wall, and say, "If you ever do it again, you are dead."
I have a temper. I work really hard on controlling my temper. I have been known to throw people across rooms.
I also am in a profession where I fight. I mean, when I would try a case, my clients very frequently come to me afterward and go, "Oh, I'm sure glad you didn't question me!"
I try a case to win.
Then I became a Catholic, and this to this day it is a struggle, because my visceral reaction to that commercial is to beat the man to a pulp, because I hate it when people do that.
I'm like Jeremiah. I want to be a follower of God, but when they're mean to me and bad, Jeremiah says, "Zap them! Just get them, God! I am your prophet! They're doing bad things! They're plotting against me! Get them!"
That I can survive.
But this bit that is so central to Jesus' teaching that I get to struggle with constantly, you don't know this, but this is a real struggle for me, is I've got to be the slave to all. I have to be nice to all? I have to love my enemy?
Do you know, practicing law for over forty years, I've got some real good enemies! People have done some really nasty things to me over the years. And I'm supposed to love them?
And that's something that we are called to do. And maybe it's more of a man thing than a woman thing. I don't know.
But it is something that is integral to the teachings of Christ. If you are to love your neighbor and everyone is your neighbor, then how do you take suffering or opposition or whatever obnoxiousness from others? How do you deal with that?
Do you crush them like a bug? Or do you love them as a neighbor?
When you see people in need, "Oh, you know, that person's poor, but I bet you they deserve it."
No. "The son of man did not come to be served but to be serve and to give His life as a ransom for many." "The greatest among you will be the servant."
And I wear a cross every day. I am aware of the presence of this cross. It's a cross that has a statement about what it means to be a deacon. "To serve, not to be served."
There is nothing in my view that makes me important in any way, shape or form by being a deacon. To the absolute contrary, it puts me in a position, and it puts us as Catholics generally, but deacons specifically, to be a servant to all. To get yourself in a situation, as I have many times, where someone comes up and there is a need where you hear yourself saying, "I'll do it! I will take care of this."
A great example of this tendency in me is this Mass, 6:30 Mass. Father Michael comes up to me and says, "I can't do the 6:30 Mass any more. It's shutting down unless you want to run a communion service, and, you know, people won't show up for that anyway so it's not a big deal." And I think, "Wait a minute, now. I can stay in bed an extra hour, hour and a half, every day, snuggled up to my wife, and get to work at the same time every day, and get extra sleep… And so I say? "Don't worry, I'll be glad to do it."
That is part, an integral part, of what it means to be a follower of Christ. That is something, you know, like I said, that commercial, still drives me crazy. I would have a really hard time not hurting that man severely. I really would.
But I know I'm wrong. I hate that sometimes. Why am I not supposed to do that? One of my favorite saints, I love the story of this saint. He and his bishop were out, a bunch of people came out insulting the bishop and being mean to him, and threatening him and everything else. And it was clear that they were going to kill this bishop and so what did he do? He hit them.
That's me! He's not right, but he hit them.
And that's something, that, again, it may be a man thing, I don't know, may be male related, but one of the things that we have to keep in mind, is what Jesus says, "The great among you shall be your servant." We are called to serve. We are called to be a servant to the world. To love one another as a servant.
And when you deal with this situation… I will be more than happy to say this… if you deal with a certain situation and you go, "Oh, I don't really want to do that", feel free to use me as an example in your mind. Because your struggle with that issue is not going to be anywhere close to the struggle that I have. And I try. I don't always succeed, but I try.
And that's what God wants of us. To be a servant. To not be like Jeremiah and say, "God, zap them!" And say, "Those people who are being obnoxious to me, ah, can I hit them, God, please?" "No." "Can you zap them?" "No." "But what do you want me to do? Love them? Be their servant? Uh, okay."
So always keep in mind, we are called to be the servant. Because when we are called and live the life of servants, we are moving on the path to spend all eternity with God in heaven.
March 20, 2019 2