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Raising
his eyes toward his disciples, Jesus said, "Blessed are you who are
poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are
now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are
now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate
you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as
evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on
that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For
their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way. But woe to
you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. But woe
to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who
laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all
speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in
this way."
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Rocky
Balboa had a good life. He was a good man. Even though his wife had
died a couple years earlier
and he remembered her daily, his life was going well.
But there was something inside,
something he told his brother that was still inside, something that had
to come out. Such a "something inside" can be called by a variety of
names.
One of them would be the thought of following a dream. The dream for
Rocky dealt with one last boxing match. As we
consider Rocky's frame of mind in the midst of all the HBO-Pay Per View
hype and Las Vegas style production of the fight, it was Rocky's dream
that drove him. Only after the fulfillment of the dream, at the
end of the fight, could he say and mean "We did it."
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Every dedicated person has a dream of doing
something
special at some time. Jesus of Nazareth had such
a dream as he spoke the very challenging Beatitudes. His dream
was to allow those Beatitudes to be the basis for a way of life that
would lead people to a kingdom of heaven that actually
began here on earth. The dream consumed his life, even giving his
life to bring it to fulfillment.
Rocky Balboa's dream was not one that dealt with the salvation of the human race; it dealt more with his own salvation, his own fulfillment. As he told the Boxing Commission Board, "Some of you got something you never finished, something you really want to do, something you never said to someone." And he explained to his son, "What's so crazy about standing toe to toe with someone saying 'I am.'" What "I am" meant for Rocky Balboa directed him to a goal that he knew he could accomplish, and he did. People should have dreams that direct their lives. Personal dreams that define who "I am." Jesus Christ had a dream that brought salvation to the world. A person like Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream that changed life as we know it. Our dream might be as uncomplicated as living the best we can as a Christian in the situations in which we find ourselves. Or maybe it is a dream to accomplish something that will bring fulfillment to our lives that only we know about. We have a right to work toward such a dream, whatever it may be. |
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THOUGHT
What personal requirements should be
present in our lives before we work for a dream?
PRAYER Good
and gracious God, we
have dreams that direct our lives. Your Son's dream was to lead
us to you. As we study our lives, there may be other dreams that
we want to accomplish. Whatever we choose, may we always do it
trusting in your help. Be with us, we pray.
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©2007
Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |