Greetings in Christ!
I continue to move along through this new assignment, learning as much as I can and praying for wisdom. I consider it a great blessing that I get to serve these two beautiful parish families and am enjoying our prayer together at Mass.
As some of you may know, I was not able to go to the convocation two weeks ago: we ended up with funerals that prevented my going. That does not bother me or anything; I prayed it over with my Priest Group and they all agreed that it would simply be too much driving for too little participation time. The funerals were beautiful to celebrate, one was for a great man who I’ve been blessed to know for some time: Justice Thomas Brennan. He was the youngest Michigan Supreme Court Justice and the founder of Cooley Law School. More important than that, he was a faithful Catholic, a devoted husband and a remarkable man. I was blessed to sit with him many times and hear his incredible, razor sharp wit and his musings on things. He wrote a blog post on February 7th of 2010, sharing his “Last Lecture” and I’d like to share some highlights of that:
Preparing to give a talk at Cooley Law School a while back, the idea of a last lecture kept sort of cropping up. Mayo Clinic tells me I’m good for several thousand more miles, but the fact is that in May I will be 81 years old. I remember when my mother was 81. I gotta say, she was old.
When you get to be my age, you think a lot about death, but not the way you think about it when you’re forty or fifty. There’s no panic, no fear. We all know, and we always knew, that death is a part of life. It’s natural. It’s certain. It’s universal. When you get old, your friends die. People treat you differently. Younger golfing buddies rake your sand traps and fix your divots.
And people listen to you; as though you have somehow gotten smarter just by living longer. I wonder about that. I always prayed for wisdom; always wanted to be a wise person. Now I read opinions I wrote forty years ago as a Supreme Court Justice and I marvel at how smart I was back then. I certainly don’t feel any wiser now. I sure wouldn’t want to take a bar examination this summer.
But I suppose there are some things that begin to sink in as the years go by. Some things you always knew become even more certain.
They say that Irish Alzheimer’s is when you forget everything but the grudge. Despite my Celtic heritage, I have had no room in my life for ill will toward anyone. Besides, I think that hatred eats the hater.
If you have a friend, it’s like having a relative. It never changes. Your friend is your friend. Period.
Forgiving feels good; forgetting feels better. Every hour, every minute spent seething over hurt feelings is an absolute waste of time. You can’t control the thoughtless, cruel, or mean spirited things that other people do or say. You can control how you react to them. You can control your feelings. You are the only one who can make you feel good.
I’m a dreamer; always have been. I put myself to sleep at night thinking about my dreams. And I think about them in the morning to get myself up and started. Many times, I dream about my dreams. Come up with new ideas, new solutions, new strategies while I’m asleep.
And your dreams demand attention. They demand action. You can’t just dream about a dream. You’ve gotta do something about it. Often just doing something – anything – will make the dream go away. If it doesn’t actually pan out –and many don’t – at least if you gave it your best shot, you will have earned some credits in the college of hard knocks.
Randy Pausch said that the brick walls we encounter in life are good. They’re put in our way so that we can prove how much we want to achieve our dreams. Nothing in life worth having or doing will come to you unless you want it. Really want it.
That’s because valuable things demand a high price. Whether it’s an education, a career, a marriage, a reputation, or anything else you set as a goal or let yourself dream about having or doing, it will not come to you unless you are willing to pay the price.
That price isn’t always money. Indeed it rarely is. Usually the price is paid in sacrifice, in waiting, in patience, in perseverance, in starting over again and again, in believing and preparing and in holding on when everyone tells you to let go.
I have often told my children and grandchildren that success is getting back up again. And so it is. But there is another dimension to success that is so axiomatic it rarely gets mentioned. My father put it this way, “You know what’s right and you know what’s wrong. Do what’s right.”
Success comes by achieving or working tirelessly toward good, honorable, positive goals.
Those are the dreams worth having, worth fighting for.
My son Tom and his family came to Florida to visit over New Years. One night at dinner, Tom suggested we all tell our New Year’s resolutions. When it came my turn, without any particular forethought, I said that in the new year I was going to be happy.
Not lose weight to be happy. Or save money to be happy. Or take a trip, go on a cruise, buy a car, or do anything else to be happy. No, I just decided that next year, I am going to be happy.
And you know something? It works. If you just decide to be happy, you can be happy. Nobody else can make you happy. Nothing you do, nothing you acquire, nothing you learn, or see, or experience will make you happy. Happiness comes from the inside. It is self generated. A happy person is happy. An unhappy person is unhappy. It’s as simple as that.
I have a dozen things on my plate. Things I want to do. Spend time with my darling wife, and hear her laugh. Improve my golf game. Write a book or two. Promote golf as a team sport. Advocate for a convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution. Travel. Visit my grandchildren and my new great granddaughter.
But these things don’t make me, won’t make me, can’t make me happy. I bring my happiness with me. I take it with me wherever I go. To the dentist’s office. To the movies. To a wake or a funeral. Happiness is a state of mind.
I sincerely hope to be happy on my death bed. The good Lord has blessed me with a long and healthy life, filled with love, achievement, friends, and beautiful moments. I thank God for the life He has given me.
At the end of it, I only hope it will be said of me that I finished the race, that I kept the faith, that I did my best and went out with courage and grace.
So…those are some of the highlights. His blog can be found at www.oldjudge.blogspot.com
I pray that God bless us all with his love and grace!
Fjk