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Faith Today • Page 3
Potential beyond
the moment
By Theodore Hengesbach
NC Ne«'S Service
Greg Barton raced for the gold
in the solo kayak event in the
1984 summer Olympics. I found
his story especially moving.
Barton was born with club feet
and even after 12 operations this
condition could not be fully cor
rected. So he turned his attention
from sports which required leg
and ot coordination to one that
demanded upper body strength —
kayaking.
Although Barton missed the
gold, he is a model of how to
turn defeat in one area into an
asset in another.
As a teacher and adviser of
adults returning to complete their
college degrees, I meet individuals
who set great goals for themselves
ind 10 often achieve great
results.
Some start with real handicaps,
having to turn around an earlier
history of failure, academic proba
tion and even dismissal from the
university 10 or 20 years ago.
They go on to perform in accep
table, even outstanding ways.
Then there are people like Lynn
Thor ^son and Harry Spigle, both
recent retirees. Thompson came
to see me two years ago about
taking a painting course. He felt
this would be a good way to fill
his time.
It soon became clear that he
had earned many college credits
trol. It is one’s reaction to those
circumstances that can be
controlled.
Obviously, too, we often feel
unequal to the task of our ongo
ing development. Only God
creates effortlessly. For God’s
human co-creators, it is a
chalk ge, frequently a difficult one.
Strength comes from the realiza
tion that people are co-creators,
working with God.
No one was ever more con
scious of his weakness than St.
Paul. Yet, he wrote: “I willingly
boast of my weakness, that the
power of Christ may rest upon
me...for when I am powerless, it
is then that I am strong" (2 Corin-
hian 12:9,10).
Yet Paul goes on to say, "In
him is the source of my strength.
I have strength for everything"
(Philippians 4:13).
(Father Castelot teaches at St.
John’s Seminary, Plymouth, Mich.)
in the past and that he was close
to completing his bachelor’s
degree. So instead of just a course
in painting, he enrolled in a varie
ty of courses. Within a year and a
half he finished his degree. At the
1983 commencement exercises, he
led the procession of students into
the hall.
Spigle had been taking college
courses sporadically since 1938.
His final course toward a
bachelor’s degree was one in
poetry which, he told me, "open
ed up a whole new part of my
life."
It provided him with the skills,
practice and encouragement to
put his personal experiences as a
World War II soldier into poetic
form. At 66 Spigle became a
published poet. In the university’s
fine arts magazine featuring the
best student work, three of his
poems are prominently presented.
Both Thompson and Spigle
discovered a potential they didn’t
know was there. I also know a
woman, a college graduate, who
was willing to begin all over to
obtain a graduate degree in
business. To fulfill the
mathematics requirement, she
took a precollege course in
algebra. After three attempts over
a two-year period involving heavy
weekly homework assignments,
she gained the requisite B.
She is an example of someone
who can learn skills in a com
pletely new area.
Christian life reveals a similar
pattern. Faith calls Christians to
achieve their full potential. The
life and words of Jesus invite
Christians to expand their
horizons. His words encourage
people to live in new, undreamed
of ways.
The New Testament offers a
perspective on life’s meaning —
on life’s enrichment and fulfill
ment. Think of the Rich Young
Man in the Gospel.
According to the scripture ac
count, the Rich Young Man was a
good man, searching to become
better. When Jesus told him that
he should sell all that he had in
order to be perfect, the rich man
turned away. He departed in a sad
state.
But his sadness does not in
dicate he did something wrong by
departing. Rather, the Rich Young
Man’s sadness resulted from his
inability to search in a new and
different way for fulfillment — to
move beyond the potential he had
already achieved.
(Hengesbach teaches at Indiana
University, South Bend.)
FOOD..
Whenever people make a new
beginning in life, they tend to be
hopeful and apprehensive at the
same time. It’s no wonder. For
at the beginning point, who can
see the end result?
Perhaps this is why a man and
woman get nervous on their
wedding day. Each partner’s
destiny is about to become in
tertwined with the destiny of a
spouse, the destinies of children
they eventually hope to have,
the destinies of new relatives and
friends.
Years later the couple may
look back on their lives and
realize how much they have
grown and changed. Undoubted
ly they will find that the course
their personal development took
was strongly influenced by life
together — what they learned
from each other, what they suf
fered together, what they achiev
ed together.
It is similar with other points
in life when people make a new
beginning: the first day in col
lege, the first day in a new
neighborhood, the first day in a
new job, the first day in a new
parish. In each case, a person is
stimulated by the new situation
and, perhaps, jittery over the
roles that new people —
teachers, co-workers, neighbors,
parishioners — will play in his
or her life.
Will these new people foster
or frustrate one’s personal
development.
...for discussion
1. Did you ever have an ex
perience that helped you realize
you had potential — a talent, a
gift, an aptitude — that you had
never recognized in yourself
before? What was the
experience?
2. What role do you think
other people might play in help
ing you develop your potential?
3. What steps would you
recommend to another person
who sought advice on how to
develop his or her potential as a
person?
4. Is there a sense in which a
community — a parish, a school,
a youth group — has potential
precisely as a community?
5. In Katharine Bird’s article,
what does Father Edward Brax
ton consider a key way to bring
out the hidden capabilities in
people?
...for thought
Your potential as a human be
ing doesn’t mature in a vacuum.
Instead, fulfillment unfolds in
the midst of real life.
—Other people help to draw
out your hidden potential.
—Unanticipated developments
point toward aptitudes and
talents you never thought could
be yours.
Many adults could testify that
they discovered new dimensions
of their personal potential when
they were 35 or older.
All this points to one reason
why the church places such im
portance on the community
dimension of its life. People are
always searching for fulfillment.
And they contribute to each
other’s fulfillment in important
ways.
The members of the Christian
community are people who in
many ways can foster the poten
tial within each other’s lives.
The sacrament of confirmation
focuses in a special way on the
value and the potential of each
person’s life. When youths are
prepared for confirmation today,
they often are asked to under
take a project in which they
serve the needs of other people.
In this way, the church says in
effect to its young people.- "You
have gifts and talents for serving
others that you have, as yet,
barely imagined. With God’s
Spirit, your potential is truly
astounding."
SECOND HELPINGS
"Sixty Ways to Let Yourself
Grow," by Sister Martha Mary
McGaw, CSJ. "Have you really
jumped into life or are you still
shivering on the shore?" Sister
McGaw, a veteran journalist,
asks readers in this small lively
book. It is a book of ideas, each
one presented in brief form. It
might be used by individuals to
stimulate thinking and prayer.
The author offers advice for
making some changes in life.
She urges readers to think
about "how your presence has
an impact on the world." She
suggests: “Invest your whole
self in whatever you do...You’ll
never know how much good you
are able to do until you let
yourself go.” Sister McGaw
writes: "You’re not finished.
You are growing....The materials
of life are all around you. You
can use them to grow....This
very moment is your unrepeat
able chance to become the per
son God created you to be.”
(Liguori Publications, One
Liguori Dr., Liguori, Mo. 63057.
1984. $1.50)
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