Little things

Little things

Rev. Jerry J. Pokorsky

“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." (Mt. 13:31-32)

Now the tiny mustard seed, like any seed, is a symbol of truth. The seed contains all that is necessary to bring forth its being to maturity. Yet you would not know it by its appearance.

A fertilized ovum in the womb of a mother, from the earliest state, has a structure completely independent from the mother. Scientists have discovered the unique DNA structure of the fertilized ovum. From the earliest moment, the DNA structure has predetermined all of the intricate details of the child, from nose to toes! Science teaches us that a human being is a person from the very moment of conception.

Little truths matter. Do you remember when your three-year-old got into the cookie jar and then, with cookie crumbs encircling his lips, he denied he stole cookies? You struggled not to chuckle because you know, as comical as things are, little lies can easily become habitual, but habitual lies become the stuff of pathology. When lies are habitual, the truth is always on trial. The veracity of statements will always be suspect. This sounds all too familiar in our day. Children with the habit of lying are not very funny. Neither are adults. Neither is an entire culture that denies the existence of truth.

Little truths matter. Years ago, the principal of my parish school reported a teacher caught one of the students in the act of stealing a pen. When the child refused to own up to his crime, the principal tried to the parents of the child. But the parents were equally unresponsive. They dismissed the incident with annoyance, “It’s only a pen!” The child probably grew up and robbed a bank, or worse became a member of Congress, or a cardinal archbishop like Richelieu.

I remember the annoyance my grandmother had for her Norwegian husband who was so uncompromising with the truth that his wife could not squeeze out the most innocuous compliment from him if he didn’t think, for example, a lady’s hat was the most beautiful thing this side of heaven. Perhaps he took things too far. Perhaps he could have said something nice for the sake of good feelings, using the usual Jesuitical techniques of mental reservation. On the other hand, the family knew any word of compliment he ever said had great weight because we trusted it was true.

Little truths matter. How many people will notice the quiet family at McDonald's, heads bowed in prayer, and begin to wonder whether that little pious cliché is true: That “a family that prays together, stays together”? (We need not be distracted by the cynical majority who, in knee-jerk fashion, would accuse the family of hypocrisy.) How many people will gaze on that little crucifix on the wall in your house and avoid unholy conversation on account of it?

Little truths matter. How many of your friends and relatives will someday have the embers of faith re-lit when they remember your example of standing up for the truth of the Faith when family situations made it difficult to do so. Family prayer? Personal witness? "Little things"? Maybe. But far from inconsequential.

God uses "little things" to reveal His mighty deeds. And He will do mighty things for you and your family if you but witness to His truth. Bear with the faults of your spouse and hold your marriage together. A little thing in a world of big things such as nuclear deterrence, peace in the Middle East, and unrestricted immigration. But your fidelity will have a ripple effect on your children and your children’s children. The truth matters. And Jesus promises us most solemnly, that in Him, "…and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." (Jn. 8:32)

Truth is not found within ourselves, except insofar as it is inscribed on our hearts by the Divine Artist. Truth is found in the Person of Christ, Who is "the way, and the truth, and the life." (Jn. 14:6) So, in matters great and small, nothing should be allowed to interfere with our witness to the truth. If our witness to the truth doesn't matter in questions of little things, it will not matter in the great questions of life and death, war, and peace. When we learn to speak the truth in apparently inconsequential matters, we become habitually disposed to speak the truth in matters of life and death.

Jesus makes it clear, and it is confirmed even in questions of science and biology. “He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.” (Lk. 16:10) And so we have a most serious obligation to witness to the truth. The truth -- wherever truth can be found in religion, science, any other academic discipline -- one day comes to fruition. Truth leads to the fullness of truth, Our Father in heaven.

As a priest in His service, I pledge today -- to the Church and to all of the people of this Parish – that with God’s grace I will do my best not to allow my deficiencies and vices to interfere with my holy obligation to witness to the truth, even in the smallest of things. But I ask you today to make that same pledge. Will you witness to the truth even in the so-called “little things”?