June 24, 2001

One of the most laughable and absurd boasts we most often make is the claim, "I'm a self-made person!" I am reminded of what one of my former CPE students said, "You have just relieved the almighty of an awful responsibility! Or, you are a powerful argument against the use of unskilled labor!" None of us are self-made. We are the products of those who prepared our way, those who plowed the fields upon which we have walked.

There is a story about the famous "PRAYING HANDS." The artist became a friend with someone who shared the same passion for art. They both were poor and unable to finance their way through school. They decided to room together and agreed that one should attend school while the other took a job to pay the bills. The favor would be reciprocated.

Since the artist of the praying hands was the more talented of the two, he was the first to go to art school while his friend worked. Upon graduation the artist took awhile before he was able to reciprocate for his friend. By that time, art school was out of the question because the roommate's hands were so gnarled by the hard labor, that he could no longer hold a paint brush.

One faithful day, he found his friend with the gnarled hands in prayer and he started to sketch those now well known hands, the hands that made it possible for him to pursue his career.

Today we are celebrating the birth of John the Baptist. We pay special homage to the man whom Jesus said: "There were one born greater than he." Although Jesus would occupy the spotlight of human history, John the Baptist, in his own quiet way, supplied the backdrop for that spotlight. He could well be hailed as the patron saint of those who like the artist friend do so much so that others might shine and also those who make it possible for their child or spouse or their friend to succeed.

SO THE QUESTION: WHO HAS PLAYED THE ROLE OF JOHN THE BAPTIST IN OUR LIFE, GIVING YOU THE SPOTLIGHT?

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