INTO YOUR HANDS | Archbishop Robert G. Casey

In the delightful classic movie The Bells of St. Mary’s, Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman star as a priest and a religious sister serving at the above-mentioned parish and its school. Ingrid Bergman plays Sr. Benedict, a school principal with both principles and a heart to match. Having given the students an assignment to write a report on the five senses, Sr. Benedict invites Patsy to give her report. Patsy, with the generous help of Bing Crosby’s Fr. O’Malley, presents this report to Sr. Benedict on the “six” senses:

“To see, to hear, to taste, to smell, to feel, to be. And the most important is the last. The sixth sense is to be able to enjoy the five senses properly.

To be—that’s what really matters. It’s like a world inside us, and it’s up to us what we make of it. We see others, we hear others, we know others with our five senses; but how do we ever know ourselves?

Through common sense. Common sense is an internal sense, whose function it is to differentiate between the various reports of the senses, or to reduce these reports to the unity of a common perception. Two great words, ‘to be.’ Other words grow out of them: ‘I am,’ ‘you are,’ ‘he is,’ ‘we are,’ ‘they are;’ that sort of takes in everybody.

As Shakespeare said, ‘To thine own self be true, and it shall follow as the night the day. Thou canst not then be false to any man.’ And he was so right, Sister! He was just talking about the sixth sense. To put it in my own words, ‘to be, or not to be—that is the question.’”

Whether it was Shakespeare or Patsy who said it, “being” is found at the heart of life’s biggest questions. Understanding how and why God made us can be of great assistance to understanding who we are called to be. When we possess a self-understanding that is rooted in our being as God’s beloved creation, we can more easily live out our lives in the love for which we have been created. We can hear the voice of God resound through all of creation, taste and see the goodness of the Lord, smell the rich and wonderful fragrance of life, and feel the joy that comes to us as God’s children.

Our “being” impacts our “doing.” The great commandment of love becomes something we do because of who we have discovered ourselves to be. Love is no longer simply a noun; it becomes a verb, expressed with intentional action. Charity becomes our common practice because of who we are. Rather than just a passive emotion or feeling, love becomes our daily choice to live in kindness, patience, service, and sacrifice.

This month the Church will enter the season of Lent. Together we will embark on a 40-day journey of prayer and penance that will lead us onward to the joy of Easter. We make this journey with Jesus by our side. Through His own life, death, and Resurrection, Jesus reveals to us the pathway to follow. The Way of Christ leads us from self-centeredness to self-sacrifice, from indifference to compassion, and from being random wanderers to becoming intentional pilgrims, choosing with thought and care each step we take.

May we have the common sense to see the wisdom of following the Way with Jesus, so that we may be renewed in our discipleship here on earth and rejuvenated by the promise of heaven, where love shall come to its fulfillment and our senses shall truly be awakened.