Be Inspired and Enriched!

On the weekend, I gave a talk on the topic of Loving Your Neighbour at a Parish-Based Retreat. I have given this talk before so I felt confident in accepting the invitation to speak. I prepared the slides and the materials. Before the afternoon session started, I had set up the slides, the music, the movie and the sound amplifier. Everything worked. However, thirty minutes before I was due to speak, I went to a room and prayed to the Holy Spirit that I may speak about God's real message that could touch at least one of those present. When it was my time to speak, everything did not work - the remote control, the projector, the slides, the sound and the video (movie). But I had to start. So, I grabbed my Bible and started to read the Parable of the Good Samaritan. I shared a bit about what touched me in that passage, the words that came up very strongly and how this story can be compared to our situation today. When the projector came up again, I quickly went through the slides...

Early today, I had a chat with a lady about her father who is in his eighties. He seems to start behaving like a little child. As the conversation progressed, I can also see her Dad's reactions in my little boy's reactions and behaviour. I also saw some parallel with my Dad who is now a bit over seventy years old. We then spoke about other elderly relatives and friends and how they see life. A number of them are bitter and always angry about their own lives. When we look at their lives at the outset, we reckon they have a lot more blessings to be thankful for yet they behave as if they are worse off than anyone else in the world. At a seniors' school, we also see the same patterns: some are still happy and cheery even in their 80's and 90's and some are never satisfied with what they have or who they are or who they have become. Based on our observations with people surrounding us, we somehow came to the same conclusion that most of those who were behaving bad...