THE THINGS THAT LOVE CAN DO

At first I was going to treat this with humor.  I received a short story yesterday that I thought I was going to present to you because it brought some fairly humorous images to mind.  Then I got the nice comment from Justa about her husband Josh who has been doing better.  She believes that our prayers have been key to this process of healing for him.  Thinking about him and what he has done over the last few months for so many people, members of his extended family, mostly, got me to thinking about some behaviors that we humans practice out of pure love.  One thought came to me about myself.  I am the oldest son in my family.  My father, EFR Dion was the oldest one in his family.  The Voice from the Kitchen is the oldest from her family.  Josh is the same.  I don't know how this is connected with the following stories, but I let it up to you to make the connection.  The first thought I had today was  the ease with which I could change my siblings' dirty diapers,even from a young age.  It never bothered me.  Baby sitters would be repulsed by the idea.  They would call me and I would do it with alacrity and feel good about it.  I would do whatever it took to make the people in the household  happy and comfortable, no matter how ugly or smelly.  The one story that struck me about myself today is this one.  I was still in grade school, maybe 12 or 13.  It was an ordinary evening.  We had supper, washed and dried the dishes and were returning to our respective corners for homework and study before night prayer.  EFR Dion had work to do that evening, so he began preparing his work area in the corner of the "family room."  All of a sudden, he was surprised by his own body and upchucked his entire supper all over his desk, papers and floor.  I immediately got into high gear, got the necessary equipment to clean up the mess while he ran upstairs to the bathroom with MJT Dion close behind to help.  I cleaned the corner, restored the documents that I could to some semblance of decency and even found some substance to try to restore the normal air quality of the area.  I never batted an eye and I never gave a thought to thinking that I had committed some act of high courage and filial love.  when I finished, I went to my designated space and turned to my school work.  He came down from upstairs and in a short while while reappeared fully expecting to have to clean up behind himself.  He was so embarrassed that it had already been done.  He couldn't finish thanking me. I couldn't figure it out.  What was so great about helping your father?  Love makes any task just as sweet as roses.  You smell it, appreciate it and move on.  You know that the act itself contains its own reward.  It's the only gift you need.  I found out that evening.  I've had many experiences of actions taken out of love along the road of life that has been my path so far.  Too many for one "thought."  Too many to keep an audience interested past the first two.  
I am sure that everyone of you has had a similar experience.  More than one.  Give it some thought and rejoice in your personal collection of love actions for the good of others.  Finally take my word for it, Josh and Justa have such a collection, and I dare say, a lot more impressive than mine.  Thanks for praying for them.