No prophet is honored....

Before I entered religious life, I practiced law. I was a property lawyer, and spent my time writing wills and trusts and other instruments for clients who were able to pay me upfront. It was a very pleasant way to practice law, generally speaking. Of course, when you start out, you look for all kinds of clients, and with luck, even a few family members might trust themselves to you. My Dad was a doctor, and needed an estate plan. I very happily volunteered my services, and was able to organize his affairs to the point where we actually had to sign the documents that would create his subchapter S. Corporation, a 401(k) account, a will, his inter-vivos trust etc. Anyway, I prepared all these documents for him, and then ran into a roadblock. I could not get my Dad to sign anything. He would "yes" me to death about it; he would make appointments with me and then cancel them, he "needed to think about some things", but he never would in fact sign the papers. They were still unsigned when, after two and a half years of law practice, I finally entered the Dominican Order. When I entered the Order, I handed all my cases over to another lawyer, named Tom, who was coming out of the US Trust Corporation about the time I was entering the Order. I gave him all my cases, my good ones and my dogs, including my father's files. At Christmas, we novices in the Order were permitted to go home to visit, and I got to talk to my father about his new lawyer. "That Tom is great," said my father, "he's got me into ia Subchapter S. corporation, a 401(k) plan, a will, and so forth." Tom had found the file, in other words, and got my father to sign the papers that he wouldn't sign for me. Talk about frustrating! I asked my mother about this - actually, complained to my mother about this. She said to me. "Stephen, your dad saw you in diapers. At some level, you're are always going to be his little boy; that makes it hard for him to have you as a lawyer."

This coming Sunday's reading from Mark's Gospel has Jesus returning to his hometown where he grew up, where he meets with skepticism, opposition, and even rejection by the people who know him, and have known him from his youth. This is a radically different reception than he has gotten from other people in his Galilean ministry up to now. He is amazed by their unbelief, and, says the Word of God. "He was unable to do many miracles there", except for the healing of a few sick persons. (to be coninued)