Dear Friend,

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Reflection by Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly, S.T.L., Ph.D.

Some time ago, I was stranded at the airport due to a delayed flight.  Never pleasant news to be received.  My experience has been that there is normally not a great deal of positive connection in these situations.  Most of us tend to get caught up in our own zone and are expending a good deal of emotional energy simply not to lose our cool and blow a gasket.  With our patience decreasing and our tempers growing shorter, many of us surrender to the exhaustion and turn in on ourselves. 

This particular occasion was altogether different for me.  And the trigger was an older gentleman whom I had first encountered at one of the shops buying a large bag of Hershey’s Kisses.  Soon afterward, he passed from my mind and sight. Until I spotted him from a distance on the opposite side of the waiting area.  He was sporting a worn hat that read: “In God We Trust” and wearing a rosary around his neck.  This old fella was now moving carefully, dare I say gracefully, seat-by-seat, row-by-row, person to person with a now-opened bag of Hershey’s Kisses.  His simple invitation, in the form of a question, was: “Would you like a piece of chocolate?” 

His spontaneous and unexpected generosity brought a smile and a little cheer (including a small dose of sugar!), which helped to lift people’s spirits.  Unsuspecting strangers were given an undeserved gift that drew them out of their own worlds into a world of connection and communion.

It made me think of the practice of almsgiving.  St. Leo the Great says that almsgiving is a “profitable companion of spiritual fasting.”  Mother Mary Francis, PCC, beautifully captures the intention as she writes:

“Almsgiving is profitable for ourselves.  It is a paradoxical profit, because the more we give of ourselves, the more we have.  The bank account grows by decreasing.  Every time we draw out of ourselves what is in us to give, the interior bank account is enlarged.  It is a wondrous spiritual phenomenon.  On the other hand, the more we keep of ourselves for ourselves, the more impoverished we are, the more unprofitable is our manner of living.” 

We’re now well past the halfway point of Lent.  Those disciplines that we had every good intention of embracing and enduring perhaps haven’t measured up as we had thought they would for us, for others, and for the Lord.  Maybe these next days ought to be more about doubling down than giving up and giving in.  Like in the scene described above, we have every good reason to turn in on ourselves and settle for this is as good as it’s gonna get.  But then again, there might just be someone who has passed from your mind and sight whom God intends to employ as an agent of his grace and mercy right here and now – at this point in your Lenten journey. 

Our Lord Jesus always looks upon us with merciful eyes.  He waits patiently for us to open our own weary and over-stimulated eyes to look upon his face.  And be reminded once again that it is in God whom we trust. 

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Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly, S.T.L., Ph.D., Vice Provost for Academics and Catholic Identity Seton Hall University and Rector/Dean Emeritus, Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology. He holds a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, a licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) from Pontificio Istituto Teresianum, Rome, and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Fordham University. He has served as a member of the Archdiocesan Priest Personnel Board, the Advisory Committee on Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation of Priests, the Archdiocesan Vocations Board, and the Board of Trustees of Seton Hall University. Pope John Paul II named him a Chaplain to His Holiness in 2005, with the title of Reverend Monsignor. In 2016 during the Holy Year of Mercy, the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization sought priests who were living signs "of the Father's welcome to all those in search of His forgiveness." He was the only priest from the Archdiocese of Newark formally commissioned as a Missionary of Mercy by Pope Francis.