Scripture:
Deuteronomy 6:4-13
Matthew 17:14-20
Reflection:
…Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
-Matthew 17:20
you will say to this mountain,
‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you.
Despite the fact that my mother died in 1956, (I was ten years old) I can still hear her saying: “Nothing is impossible”. That voice and assurance has made for a nice adventurous life for me. You see, I actually believed her then and still do today. I guess it helps to have grown up hearing John F. Kennedy spurred on by the Soviet Union’s unmanned moon landing in 1959, saying: “We (the United States) choose to go to the moon!” That was a dream in 1962. Then in 1969 I witnessed Neil Armstrong’s step off Apollo 11 Lunar Module onto the moon famously saying: “That’s one small step for man…”. Or (and this one blows my mind) hearing that we would one day be able to “see” the person we are talking to on the phone. Phones looked much different in the 1950’s, and my imagination saw pictures coming from the “dial” face of the corded landline rotary dial phones then.
I don’t need the Soviet Union, China or any other national power to challenge me today. I look around my world and see many “impossible” dreams that still need realizing. Two dreams come to mind. The first is the movement of the mountain blocking individuals to learning. That mountain consists of many fallacies, but two I believe I can do something about are: 1) you must go to school building to learn; 2) “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. The second mountain that I believe needs moving is the axiom that learners should be grouped homogenously, i.e. rich people with rich people, accomplished persons with other accomplished persons.
God give me the faith to keep dreaming and doing my little part to make this world a better place for all of its inhabitants.
Dan O’Donnell is a Passionist Partner and a longtime friend of the Passionists. He lives in Chicago.