25th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
Cycle C
September 18, 2016 11:00am
Saint
Matthew Parish, Baltimore
The Weight of a Snowflake
There’s
a story that once upon a time, a field mouse asked a wise old owl: “What is the weight of a snowflake?”
The owl
answered: “Nothing! Nothing at all!” Well, the mouse went on to tell the owl about
the time he was resting on the branch of a fir tree.
It was
snowing and he was counting each snowflake until the number was exactly
3,471,952. Then, with the landing of the
very next flake – c-r-a-c-k!
The
branch of the fir tree snapped and the mouse tumbled to the ground. The mouse looked at the owl and said: “Humph!
So that’s the weight of nothing?
Little Things Have Effects
That
anecdote highlights one of the lessons in today’s gospel.
Jesus
says: “If people are trustworthy in
little things, they will also be trustworthy in greater things. But if people are dishonest in little things,
they will also be dishonest in greater things.”
The
point is that everything we do has significance. Sometimes we think that some of our actions
are not all that important – that they count for nothing, like a snowflake that
seems to weigh nothing.
But the
truth is that everything we do has an effect.
It has an effect 1) on our own moral character and 2) on the character
of others.
Effects on Us
Jesus
says that we develop character by beginning with the little things.
A
priest friend of mine tells a story about his first pastor. That pastor would always fold money in half
three times when people handed him donations for the parish.
He did
that to make sure he did not mix it with his own personal money. That is a good example of developing
character by beginning with small matters.
Jesus
suggests that we need to work at those little flaws: like telling so-called
fibs or little lies that we think will not hurt anyone; or like taking home
pens or coffee or other supplies from where we work. If we start dealing with these “little” signs
of spiritual failure, then we will grow in character.
One
minister said: “Integrity does not emerge
full blown in us. It is built of
thousands of little acts and decisions over many years that form our lasting
character.”
Effects on Others
Then, the
anecdote about the snowflake also conveys that our actions will have an effect
on others, especially our children and grandchildren and youth.
Some
years ago there was a cheating scam at one of our major universities. A number
of students were expelled.
A
newspaper reporter studied the situation and wrote an article about why these
young adults might have cheated on their exams.
The reporter wrote that it might have been a 6-year old hearing his
father tell someone who was interested in buying his old car that it had never
been in an accident, when in truth, it had been rear-ended several years
before.
Or a
10-year old might have heard his parents talk about not including on their
income tax report some money they had made on the side. Or a teenager at her first job in a
supermarket might have been told to hide the over-ripe strawberries on the
bottom of the box.
The
newspaper reporter said that experiences like these could lead children and
youth to develop an attitude about cheating on an exam. These “little” actions by adults begin to
form the character of young people.
Conclusion
So, eventually one more snowflake, that apparently weighs
nothing, cracks the branch of the tree.
And the same thing can happen to us. Eventually, one more “little” action that
disregards moral norms can have a decisive and negative influence on character.
On the other hand, an accumulation of “little” things that
are done from a sound moral basis will positively mold character and prepare us
and others for life’s bigger issues. As
Jesus says: “If people are trustworthy in
little things, they will also be trustworthy in greater ones.”
