By Father Charles L. Fuld
Who is that person? Who earned that degree of love and closeness that you will never forget them? Your mom? Your dad? Your spouse? Your sidekick in those military years? That student who helped carry you through all those years of school?
We encounter all kinds of people during our lives. Most are passersby, but some make such an impression that they will never be forgotten — even though they have since been taken away by years, miles or even death.
Yes, this is a value we alone can give — sometimes, later in life, when we finally realize the impact a person had on us.
Years ago, when I was pastor of a church in San Diego, I celebrated a funeral Mass for a man I barely knew. The eulogy given by one of his friends was so bland that I decided to go into the crowd with a cordless microphone and asked, “What do you remember about this man?”
Sure enough, the answers I heard were the same bland comments: “He was a good neighbor,” “He loved to play cards,” etc., etc.
I finally gave up and headed back to the sanctuary when I noticed a man, a stranger, sitting all by himself. I decided to ask him the same question. His answer was, “He saved my life during the war!”
Wow!
No one knew that he had served in the military or that he was a hero!
After the service concluded, that stranger became the center of attention for all those who wanted to find out more about the man they thought they knew so well. Yes, he had earned his place in the stranger’s heart forever.
So, how do you become such a person, someone another person or lots of people will never forget?
Jesus spelled it out for us: Love one another. Instead of being judgmental, be forgiving and helpful. Help one another – not as you have been helped, but way beyond that. Forgive others not seven times, but 77 times. If necessary, carry them in your arms like a lost sheep
Yes, that’s quite the challenge, but the difference is worth every bit of your effort.
Christ calls us to make a difference in other people’s lives. We just finished Mothers’ Day (May 10) and Fathers’ Day (June 21); ahead is the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly (July 26) and Veterans’ Day (Nov. 11). You can make these — and all the days in between — special occasions for yourself and others. And, yes, you can become a person never forgotten.
Father Charles “Chuck” Fuld is editor emeritus of The Southern Cross.
