OK…picture this. You graduated from Catholic High 25 (or 50!) years ago and you get wind of the reunion and want to go. You haven’t seen most of your classmates for all of those 25 years. You begin thinking about your time at CCHS…your friends, “the nuns!”, and how involved you were with extracurricular activities. True…you weren’t the valedictorian, or even in the top 10, but your grades were pretty solid. You never failed anything and even did pretty well in Geometry! You liked sports, but never quite made the basketball team so you did cross country running. After high school you went to college in Pennsylvania, got your degree and landed a low level job with GE in Kentucky. Since then, you’ve worked your way up and hold a great job with GE that has allowed you to buy a pretty big house, a lake house, and a boat. You’re happily married and have three great kids. Of course, you still go to Church and you’re intent upon bringing your kids up in the faith!!! You take out your yearbook and flip through it before the reunion at Franklin Terrace. You notice that you picked some inane quote under your graduation picture that inferred that you were an OK kid, but no “great shakes.” You go to the reunion. Hardly anybody recognizes you and when you begin to tell your story of the last 25 years, group after group looks at you with a “you’ve got to be kidding” look. It’s obvious that they never expected you to amount to anything. What a let-down!!! NOW…check out the Gospel today. Jesus comes back to Nazareth, His hometown, after being away for some time. The people remember Him as “the carpenter’s son.” PERIOD! And when Jesus starts preaching in the temple, the people are astounded and say “Where did this man get all this?” They couldn’t believe that this was the same Jesus that they once knew. In essence, they rejected Him and didn’t even give him a chance. Why? Because they knew Him “when” and were not open to the fact that people change…people grow up. Was Jesus disappointed? No doubt, He was, but that didn’t deter Him from continuing to “preach the good news of salvation.” Rejection is a hard pill for all of us to swallow. None of us likes being on the outside of the circle. Rejection by those closest to us is doubly hard. What is important here is how we handle rejection and whether or not we allow it to defeat us. God expects us to “keep on keepin’ on” building the kingdom of God no matter what obstacles of rejection we experience. We’ll be able to do that if we keep our hearts open to the grace of God and use those special gifts of the Holy Spirit that we have from Confirmation (e.g. courage) to accomplish great things. We must realize that God's power is always available to transform even the most unlikely people and experiences…even us! In 1905, the University of Bern flunked a Ph.D. dissertation because it was fanciful and irrelevant. The young Ph.D. student who received the bad news was Albert Einstein. In 1894, the rhetoric teacher at Harrow in England wrote on a 16-year old's grade card: "A conspicuous lack of success." The name on the top of the card was that of young Winston Churchill. There is such a thing as being too close to something to appreciate it. Remember the often told story of the first screen test of Fred Astaire, and the comment written by the director at the time: "Can't act; can't sing; dances a little." In 1902, the Atlantic Monthly's poetry editor returned a batch of poems to a 28-year old poet with a bitter note: "Our magazine has no room for your vigorous verse." The poet was Robert Frost. Never give up! “Gospel Question for the Week”: Do you crumble under criticism or rejection? Get a grip!