A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. “What food might this contain?” the mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning: “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.”
The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”
The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.”
The mouse turned to the cow and said, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”
The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose.” So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s mousetrap alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house – like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.
The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital and she returned home with a fever.
Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.
But his wife’s sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.
The farmer’s wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.
The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.
So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn’t concern you, remember, when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.
We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another. Each of us is a vital thread in another person’s tapestry.”
At the end of our lives we will be asked but one question, “How well do we love”. Sometimes the most inspirational and indeed “Holy People” are those who speak the Gospel through their witness.
We cannot but value the gift of a good neighbour, friends and family.
The more we give the more we receive and all of us has that wonderful potential to both share and celebrate the light and love that defines our true selves.
Family
I am deeply inspired, by the sight of loving family members, of prisoners, as they visit loved ones here in our Local Prison.
Visits fuelled with compassion and love. Rehabilitation begins in an environment of acceptance and forgiveness. Never give up on the great virtues that is encouragement and kindness. We all respond to the positive.
Even after a dreadful cold spring, signs suggest, that we are going to be blessed with a most abundant and plentiful harvest. Remember, the light remains even when the clouds can block its rays.
This Mid-summer may we all take time to energise and refresh. May we be living signpost pointing others in the direction of hope and love.
Summer Prayer
Creator of all, thank You for summer!
Thank You for the warmth of the sun
and the increased daylight.
Thank You for the beauty I see all
around me and for the opportunity to
be outside and enjoy Your creation.
Thank You for the increased time I
have to be with my friends and family,
and for the more casual pace of the summer season.
Draw me closer to You this summer. Teach me how I can pray no matter where I am or what I am doing. Warm my soul with the awareness of Your presence, and light my path with Your Word and Counsel.
As I enjoy Your creation, create in me
a pure heart and a hunger and a thirst for You.
Amen
SEE ALSO – Fr Paddy: First Communion – Sacrament or Pantomime?
