Its all About You…and me…and God...

​The British Pop group Mc Fly are back with a new hit song Happiness, One of Mc Fly’s most popular songs has a chorus that  runs its all about you . It is  a catchy number. We are prone to  put Our self  at the centre of any situation.  We think that it is always about us, but?
 
Joseph Donders SMA recalls an incident as a  seminary student in Rome in the 1950s.
It was  chilly night in Rome. He with others went to the home of an extremely poor immigrant family. The family  lived in a shelter made our of card board boxes, flattened petrol cans in the Valle del’Inferno, (The valley of Hell) by the walls of Vatican City. They had gone to give a blanket to a mother and child.
 
The neighbours saw what they did ,and immediately began to complain. It was unfair why hadn’t Joseph and his friends brought them all blankets. The students tried to explain that giving a blanket to a needy family with a frail child did not automatically create a right for everybody to have one. But it was no use the neighbours  were angry because the students had shown kindness’ to others.
 
God hears  many such complaints
Why are others healthy ,while I am sick and in pain
Why do others seem happy, while I am so miserable
Why did she have to die so young and not  live into old age, like most people.
These are bitter ,heartfelt cries that no welfare system can quieten.
 
Our Sunday Gospel  parable, (Matthew 20:1-16) addresses  this problem. Everything is a gift from God and no-one has an a priori right to any -thing . Every-thing is a gift from God.
We are called to gratitude for what we have. When Jesus tells us   the last will be first.. he does not intend to set up a queuing system for Gods gifts or rewards . He is reminding his listeners That In Gods eyes, the first and last are brothers and sisters who all stand before God as friends and equals. Its not  all about Us- its all about God. That’s Happiness.
 
Mgr Jim