March 5, 2010
The Second Half
Point of view
BY DEACON JIM AND ANN CAVERA
One summer long ago I worked in the Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts. I often woke up early to have time to sit on the front porch and watch the mist rise from the valley below. At first all of the mountaintops in the distance appeared to be little islands floating in a sea of haze. Gradually, the mist rose higher, covering even the mountaintops. Within an hour or so the warmth of the sun evaporated everything to reveal a stunning view of the valleys between the mountains. That’s how it feels to age. Sometimes it seems as though we are sitting in isolation near the mountain peak. Other times, the mists evaporate and leave us with a panoramic view of all of life spread out below us.
This morning we watched a news program on PBS that covered stories from Europe. One of the stories was about a very wealthy businessman who made a trip to South America. The poverty he saw among some of the Latin American children troubled him so much he returned home and sold his private planes and luxury cars to fund work on behalf of the children. Currently, he is raffling off his mansion in the Alps to continue his work. The businessman’s story is especially appropriate for Lent because it makes us stop and question what we are doing with our own lives. While few of us are wealthy enough to raffle off houses, many of us are blessed with an abundance of health, faith and creativity as well as more material things than we need. Most of us have time and talent we can spend for others.
When we take time to look at the view from where we sit, what do we see? The people of Haiti have barely begun to recover from the devastating earthquake of a few weeks ago and now a catastrophic quake has caused widespread destruction in Chile as well. Aside from storms, quakes and other natural disasters, people everywhere are afflicted with many serious problems with no remedies in sight. From our point of view we are well aware of how fragile life is and how easily another’s misfortune and pain could be our own. Whatever age we are, Lent provides all of us with an opportunity to reflect on how close we are to the mountain top and whether or not we are willing to see life spread before us.
As Thomas Merton said, “The biggest temptation is to settle for too little.” We assume he was speaking about how easy it is to become comfortable in a spiritual sense. From our porch near the top of the mountain, we now see things with a clarity we didn’t have when we lived in the fog below. When we take stock of what we have to give, we become aware that we no longer have some of the gifts we once took for granted. For instance, we can no longer multi-task as easily as we could 20 years ago. We are better off recognizing our limits and focusing our efforts on a few important things. This Lent we are called to do the same thing the businessman did when he saw the needs of the children. No matter who we are, we must take stock of what we have and find ways to help the people in the valleys.
Deacon Jim and Ann Cavera are former residents of Evansville; their award-winning column is a regular feature of the Message. Contact them at www.catholicseniorspirit.com.