Nineteenth of Year C
August 2007
In the summer of 1947 we moved house. That winter had been the coldest in years with deep snow lying on the ground until well into spring. I was seven years old at the time with my brother and sister a few years older. My parents had decided to move to within a few miles of Limerick City where secondary education was available.
The five-ton lorry arrived early in the morning and we all helped in moving our goods and chattels and stowing them on the lorry. My father travelled the ten miles to where we were moving, in the lorry. My mother packed the final bits and pieces into strong shopping bags and the four of us proceeded, heavily laden, to the nearest bus stop, about a half-mile away. We arrived there in good time and the bus duly arrived.
To my mother’s dismay the bus was full and the conductor would not allow us on board. My mother pleaded with him to no avail and even went round to the driver's door to plead with him too. All to no avail. So there we were, standing at the bus stop, surrounded by all our bags and parcels with no place to go, and the next bus was the following morning.
There was a train station about a mile away where a train passed sometime after midday. So that became our next objective. In the meantime there were hours to wait so we all trudged to a not too distant pub where the woman of the house had a name for kindness. The pub was closed of course at that hour of the morning, so we went to the dwelling house door. The woman of the house received us with a smile and having heard our story invited us into her sitting room and made us comfortable with tea, cake and biscuits for as long as we wished.
In those days cars were as rare in rural Ireland as calamari so with about an hour to go we set off again, with our loads, for the station. The rest of the journey was uneventful. We arrived in Limerick by train. Got a bus which brought us to within a half mile of our destination and found my dad busy arranging things in our new abode and wondering what had happened to us. This was of course a great adventure for us children. We were very tired from the travelling (which we were not used to) and especially the carrying of heavy loads but we had no worries about whether we would arrive safely or whether we would arrive at all.
We never questioned our parent's decision to move or whether we would like the new location or not. This was so because we had total confidence in our parents. True, they were a pain from time to time and though already overburdened, we wished that they might carry yet a few more of the bags, but we knew they had our total wellbeing at heart at all times. This is the theme of today's readings.
Our attitude to God, our loving Father, must be that of children towards their parents. God too can be a bit of a pain and we often wish he would carry more of our burdens but we always know that he has out total well-being at heart, at all times. This is what Jesus meant when he said that we should 'become as little children.'
I think that God would like me to look on my life too as a great adventure. An exciting journey into the unknown. I think that God does not mind when I grumble from time to time: when I tire and sulk and refuse to co-operate by carrying my share of the load. As long as I have total trust in God's love and care for me, God does not much mind what I do.