The Guys

JMJ. Most men make a point of getting together with the guys occasionally. Usually to watch football or play poker or whatever. I don't have that luxury. I have a loving wife who has MS who needs a fair amount of extra care. She sees to herself during the day when I'm at work but in the afternoon and evening she gets kind of pooped so I'm there to make things a little easier for her. I'm not complaining; we're all given a cross to bear and mine is to help her carry hers.

There are two guys, though, that I need to see from time to time and we get together at odd intervals to talk about our Catholic faith, the over-sensual world and its evils, our politics, etc. We're all three amazingly similar. We have pasts we're in the process of over-coming, we're all three the spouses of three great wives, and we're all three enamoured of our Catholic Church. Charlie and Bob are, and have always been, fantastic role-models for this struggling convert. Struggling, that is, to do in a short period of time what I SHOULD have been working on my whole life--learning to love God with my whole mind and heart. I'm learning (through the grace of God) and they're there to buoy me up when it all seems too much for me to take in. God grant that we should all have folks like this in our lives!

But the more I've thought about it, the more I've come to realise that this is what the "communion of saints" is all about. Helping each other to work out our salvation in fear and trembling--much like St. Paul. Bob is devoted to the Tridentine Mass and the glories of our Catholic heritage. Charlie is devoted to the Divine Mercy. I'm devoted to the conversion of souls and the salvation of sinners--like yours truly. We three complement each other. I like to think that we make each other a little bit better than we might have been on our own. That, after all, is what the communion of saints is all about. They're a lot farther down the path that leads to Christ than I am. But with His strength (and their help) I'm running to catch up. It's a whole lot more rewarding than poker and football, too.