The story is told of a Naval Officer who was given the command of a battleship, something he always wanted. On his first night at sea, he noticed a light in the distance and called the Communications Officer to send a message for the boat to turn 20 degrees to the south. A message came back telling the Captain to turn his ship 20 degrees to the north. Another message shot back, “you turn your ship as I ordered; I am Captain O’Brien.” A return message, “you turn your ship, I am third-class midshipman Patrick Murphy.” Now infuriated at this impertinence, the Captain sent one last message, “you better turn now! I am a destroyer!” The return message: “YOU better turn now. I am a lighthouse!”
In this story, the captain was convinced he was right in ordering the apparent offender to change course. Often we ourselves are quick to judge another without all the information we need. We can often have the habit of judging the intention of others. “Did you see that guy deliberately pull out in front of me in traffic? What a _____!” (You can fill in the blank) Perhaps he was rushing to the hospital after hearing his child was injured.
OR – How could people not leave when a hurricane is approaching? Incredible!!
The question today is, could our ship possibly be off course?
Imagine, if we could hold the tension until we could non-judgmentally resolve our difference out of love for one another. Who knows the “other” could well be our “lighthouse” for today, guiding us safely home to loving harmony with each other, now and forever.
This past week in our Diocesan newspaper there was an article entitled, “A Child’s Eye View of Recent Events” which I think links very closely to today’s message. Allow me a few extra moments to share this with you…
(Father Joe then continued to share the following article with the people of St. Mary’s, Crescent. This fantastic article can be found at THIS LINK.)