Sister Colleen Knows The Deal
Over the past few months, it’s been impossible to miss a series of TV ads from Florida-based Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, Inc. In our area, they go by Rally’s.
The series of ads spotlight various menu items, but they all end with the same line:
“Fast-foodies know the deal!” I suppose that, when it comes to fast-food in the here-and-now, it’s possible to acknowledge that sentiment.
But from here, Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Sister Colleen Mattingly really knows the deal.
You’ll find her photo and a brief vocation story on the back cover of the August issue of the Knights of Columbus magazine “Columbia.” In the story, she provides a brief-but-impactful portrait of her vocations journey. She talks about going to Eucharistic Adoration for the first time and asking God how she could give back to him all that he had given her.
“I was surprised to hear his loving invitation: ‘You could give your life to me.’” Then she added: “After I entered religious life, I doubted whether or not I could be fulfilled by my vocation. I felt immense peace after receiving an answer: ‘You will never be fulfilled in this life – that is what heaven is for.’”
Whoa.
You and I need to do two things – one immediate and one as we move forward.
Right now, we need to acknowledge that Sister Colleen knows the deal. None of us will ever be fulfilled in this life. Moving forward, we need to share that message, noting that heaven is the source of our eternal fulfillment, with everyone we know and everyone we meet.
All of us know people who seem to move at a breakneck pace to accomplish … something. Everyone has different goals. Some seek money; others seek power; still others seek fame – a lasting legacy. Regardless of what we seek, our motivation is the same.
We long for fulfillment.
I repeat … Sister Colleen knows the deal. We will never be fulfilled in this life. Embracing and accepting that concept is critical to allowing God’s will to be done through us.
It occurs to me that any time we turn from God, turn from his will, we do so because we are seeking fulfillment here … in this life. And most often, what are we turning from? We avoid meeting people where they are. We avoid helping others. We refuse to be Jesus to others.
Why do we do these things? From here, it seems as though we turn from God because nothing he asks us to do in this life leads to fulfillment – in … this … life. He wants to help us make it to heaven because fulfillment is there … waiting.
You will see those TV ads again; I’m confident of that. When you do – and when they reach the end and the person in the ad says, ‘fast foodies know the deal,” think about Sister Colleen and the real deal. She knows it.
