Be Perfect As God Is Perfect
(This is the homily for the youth attending Totus Tuus this week.)
During the school year I help with recess on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I like being with the young people and it is nice to get outside. Our recess time is split up by grades. One event I remember was with six second grade boys. They were going to play kickball. After choosing who was going to be on what team, the game started. It is difficult at best to play kick ball with a pitcher and two fielders. You spend a lot of time running after the ball and it is extremely hard to get the three outs. This leads to disputes and arguments. Most of the time they will find a way to compromise. This day something different happened.
One young man decided to take the ball and walk away. He would toss the ball up in the air and catch it repeatedly. No matter how the others would ask, beg, or coax him to return to the game, he would just ignore them. Frustrated, the other players came to me to voice their complaint. After listening to their complaint, I suggested they get another ball and play soccer at another part of the playground. I explained you cannot force someone to do what you want them to do. If he does not want to play with you then find something else to do. At first, they were shocked that I would not talk to the young man with the ball. But with a little thought, suddenly they ran off and got another ball and were happily playing soccer.
The young man who had the ball thought he was going to get into trouble. He soon discovered that I had no intention of talking to him. Then with dismay he realized the others had started a game without him. He walked over and asked if he could play. They said he had his ball he could play with that. After a little more arguing I walked over and asked what was going on. The young man was upset that he could not play with others. I gently said that is how the others felt when he would not play with them. To the other five boys I said we do not want to make the same mistake. Jesus invites all of us. Even those who may have hurt us in the past, we are to love them and forgive them and include them in our game. It is more fun to play soccer when you have the same number of players on each team. That made sense and the game resumed.
That is a good example of the game of life. It is more fun when we all can play. It is more fun to forgive and forget. It is more fun to help each other. That is how we become perfect as our God is perfect.
May the Lord bless you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen