June 1
Our Lady of the Star
St.
Justin Martyr
Today’s
Gospel: Mark 12:1-12
A man planted a vineyard. Built a wall around it. Dug a winepress. Put up a
watchtower. Then he handed it all to some tenants and left.
When he sent someone to collect the fruit
his vineyard had produced, they beat the messenger and sent him away empty.
Jesus told this story, and everyone
listening knew exactly what it meant. God gives. We receive. And then comes the
question that never goes away: What did you do with it?
Justin Martyr knew his answer. He took
the sharpest mind of his generation, a gift if there ever was one, and spent
every last bit of it defending the Faith. They beheaded him for it. He never
asked for his gift back.
I don't have a philosopher's mind, and I
never claimed to. What I do have, I try to give away. That's the whole
strategy, plain and simple. Whatever flows in flows right back out, to the Rosary
Makers Ministry, to others, and basically to whoever needs it more than I do. Generosity
doesn't sit down and balance a checkbook. It just keeps scanning the horizon,
looking for the next place to pour itself out.
I've made up my mind, I want to slide
into heaven completely beaten up, worn out, scratched and scraped and fully
spent, with nothing left in the tank and a grin on my face. I want to look back
at the life I lived and say that was the most magnificent ride I could
have ever asked for. Thank you, Lord.
Our Lady of the Star shone over a
preacher who gave everything he had in broad daylight. She tends to show up
where people are doing exactly that.
Something
to ponder upon today:
What has God given you that
you're still holding onto, and who was it actually meant for?
