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Persistence pays off
Called to be a sign of stability and unity

By Father Dennis Meinen
View from the scooter

Persistence: What does Obama have in common with God? Neither has a birth certificate. No matter how persistent one is in trying to convince people of the truth you might never defeat mis- information.

I have a computer printer that was unresponsive for the better part of one week. Moreover it kept spitting out a message which mockingly said “Open the printer cartridge door and clear the paper jam, then press the ok button.” There WASN’T any jam in the printer or even paper to jam the printer. I finally gave up and bought another printer. Until it came in I kept trying to convince the persistent defective piece of “equipment” it wasn’t jammed up. One day I had an idea. A retired farmer’s wife who used to live in Ellendale came in to do slave work for free for the Chaplain. I had her pick up one side of the printer and me the other. For several minutes we shook the ---- out of the printer and even let it drop a few inches to the desk, after threatening to raise it higher. Then the new printer came in and I merely placed in in full view of the diabolical printer to let it know it could be replaced. Know what happened? It works just fine now, but I still have the new printer in view.

I was listening to Catholic Radio (88.1) the other day and they were discussing the difficulty Catholics sometimes have when they are on vacation and should go to Sunday Mass. They want their pastor to let them off the hook. I used to ask my parishioners, “If you had chest pains you would find a hospital, wouldn’t you?”

I conducted a wake for a Holy Spirit resident who died and it was held in Le Mars. I met some fine people there but quickly discovered some things. Never say something against a Sitzman in Le Mars. They multiply faster than rabbits and when offended would make the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s look like they’re having a garden party. There were ladies of German persuasion who pronounced the deceased person’s name with a soft J (It rhymes with “hour”) and other non-Germans (?) who pronounced it with a hard “J” Although they were polite to each other, probably because I was there, I suspect they met later and talked in high or low German, whatever the other couldn’t understand saying, "Die Ohren wackeln! (“Your ears wiggle!”)

One time I went out to the mall to buy a pair of shoes. I chose the kind I wanted and handed the clerk a credit card to complete the purchase. In a voice that sounded like a street tough the clerk asked “You got I.D?” Just then, I saw a couple parishioners in the store, so I said, “Ask them. They’ll tell you who I am.” The clerk looked over at them. “You know him?” the clerk asked. Know what my beloved parishioners said? “WE NEVER SAW HIM BEFORE IN OUR LIVES.”

There’s no problem in knowing who Simon Peter is after listening to a recent gospel, for we have the words of our Lord Himself, “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church.” Jesus, by saying this was choosing Peter as the foundation of the Church he intended to establish. In promising Peter the keys to Heaven’s Kingdom, and the power to bind and loose in Christ’s own Name, our Lord was calling Peter to be a sign of stability, permanence, and unity. Those are all qualities to be admired and imitated. Now, if my printer would only try harder, like St. Peter.