Fr Jim Cogley
The following story relates to one of the greatest churchmen of the last century, Archbishop Fulton Sheen. He was renowned for his use of radio and inspirational preaching. During his lifetime he changed the lives of millions. In his autobiography he speaks of what influenced him the most and inspired him to become a priest. He was once an altar server and he had a mishap while carrying the cruets of water and wine. They crashed to the floor and once back in the sacristy he expected to find himself in trouble. To his surprise there was no blaming or scolding, instead, the priest was the essence of kindness and reassured him that it was a genuine mistake that could just as easily have happened to him. That incident he attributed to being the great turning point in his life, he wanted to be like that man who had shown such kindness, and that was what he became. For a lifetime he lived the power of the positive word.
In counselling work, I often hear what amount to horror stories of words that were spoken to people as children or teenagers. So often these terrible things said became internalised to the point of having defined that person’s entire life. It reminds me of a tourist in Pakistan who saw several elephants tethered by the foot with a small rope to a peg in the ground. He asked how this could be the case, considering the enormous strength of the animals. He was told that as baby elephants the rope was sufficient but as they grew older and stronger, they still thought like baby elephants and remained tied to their post. So many adults go through their entire lives still bound by something said in a moment of anger by a parent or teacher. It wasn’t the truth at the time, but it did become their truth and even shaped their destiny.
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