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St. Thomas à Becket Foundation |
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making a
difference |
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| 18th
February, 2008 |
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Thought:
‘Love is an act of will
– namely, both an intention and an action. Love is as Love does.’ |
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Three centuries ago there lived a very famous German-Jewish
philosopher named Moses Mendelssohn. Moses Mendelssohn was
brilliant and compassionate – but he had one flaw. He was a
small, hunchbacked man.
Hunchback that he was, he fell in love with a beautiful and
charming young woman named Gretchen, the daughter of a
prosperous banker. Several months after he had met Gretchen,
Mendelssohn visited her father and asked him, very cautiously,
how his daughter might feel about the possibility of marrying
him, for he had come to love her very much. |
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“Please, tell
me the truth,” Mendelssohn insisted. The father hesitated and then
replied: “The truth is that the girl is frightened by you
because…because..” Mendelssohn finished his sentence for him
“…because I am a hunchback?” “Yes,” said the father, “because you
are a hunchback.”
Mendelssohn paused. Then after some silence he asked for permission
to see the daughter on the pretext that he wanted to say farewell to
her. The father agreed. Mendelssohn went upstairs and found
Gretchen in a room where she was busy with needlework. She avoided
looking at him during the conversation, which Mendelssohn eventually
directed to the subject of marriage. In the course of the
conversation on the topic, the young woman asked him if he really
believed in the old saying that “Marriages are made in heaven.” “Of
course,” he replied. “And while we’re on that subject, I might as
well tell you that something unusual happened to me. As you know,
when boys are born the angels in heaven call out for all to hear,
‘This little boy is destined to have this special girl for a wife.
It is decreed from all eternity and no one may change it.’ |
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“So when I was born, the angels
made the usual announcement about me and the name of my future wife
was announced. But then the angels paused and added, ‘But alas,
Mendelssohn’s wife will have a terrible hump on her back!’ Then I
shouted out loud before the court of heaven. I cried, ‘Oh, Lord,
no. A girl who is hunchbacked will very easily become bitter and
hard, and the object of awful jokes and hurts. No, Lord, a girl
should be beautiful. Oh, Lord, please…please give the hump to me
and let her be well formed.’
“And you know what Gretchen? God heard my prayer and I was glad. I am
that boy and you are that girl.” Gretchen was deeply moved. She
saw Mendelssohn in a whole new way and so she became his faithful
and loving wife. |
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Readings:
John3:16; 1 Corinthians 13: 1
John 3-4. |
Father, we read in the Bible
that the best way to describe you is to use the word “Love”. Your
love for humankind is so great that you sent Jesus, your Son, to
live as one of us. We pray that we may appreciate and value one
another. God of love, lead us to grow in love. Amen.
God our Father, help us to appreciate that those you have entrusted
to us are your sons and daughters. Help us to show, by the care we
take for them, that we have a real love for them, a great tenderness
towards them. May we show much kindness, and may love guide us in
all our actions. Amen.
Lord, we ask you to inspire us to love others today in our attitude
and words and actions. Amen. |
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