Listen and hear the sound of the drops of blood Jesus handed to us as he died / Following the most recent articles of the search for God
A story about a young man, we’ll call him Oscar, maturing as he absorbs information regarding the many obstacles of life that everyone encounters. He realizes, as he begins to consider what road he’ll take as a future contributor to society, noticing the competition will become very keen.
Oscar made it through high school and college earning passing grades, with a number of opportunities to advance into many career choices. He must begin searching while considering the many doors available.
As Oscar ponders the different opportunities before him, his mind flashes back to the early days of catechism classes and remembers some of the wisdom passed on by Sister Margaret Mary at St. James. She always advised us to consider God in any endeavor we should decide to enter into. Jesus Christ’s mandates should always be the one pattern to adhere to when making crucial choices and not to be drawn in to just social success without the moral consequences that may determine our final decisions.
But, as chance would have it, each step in the business world would take him one more move away from ethics and bring him closer to become a team player disregarding moral choices. No matter what conclusion Oscar decided on, the term “everyone does this or that” appeared to be the direction he followed.
It is apparent that our Oscar was fulfilling the path to success that induces many persons in today’s business world. Seek the moon if necessary to achieve your goals in life and don’t worry about whom you must step on to arrive at that golden position.
The one serious criterion that reaches out to becoming successful might mean that each step on the ladder of success could be a nail in someone else’s life. Each obvious movement forward can bring one further away from the very example that Sister Margaret Mary expounded on in Oscar’s class, consider God in any endeavor we decide to enter into.
Remember her advice; Keep the mandate of Jesus when making decisions and the moral reflections we must hold on to. Success is good, but not if gaining it corrupts the integrity of persons one to another.
How easy it can become to turn a blind eye towards the needs of others while opening up the opportunity to darken our own path of expectations without a conscience of God’s moral law.
Unfortunately this has become a once hoped for golden opportunity leading to a gilded attraction. What might have appeared as sweet success becomes a false sense of disappointment and maybe the loss of our soul.
Has Oscar made the change from success at other’s expense to a complete turn-around by becoming the saintly attraction of considering spreading holiness that is expected of us all?
Ralph B. Hathaway, June 2021