Sigh.
By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | Jan 26, 2011
One tries to put one’s best foot forward. One crafts things as carefully as possible. One seeks to make the most effective case.
And then one sends out a fund-raising message which, once the reader gets through about two-thirds of it, starts over again from the beginning.
Sigh.
For me, this is just another reminder of my own human weakness, my propensity for mistakes, and my inability to reach perfection without large doses of grace. I suppose everyone has these moments. If so, I can offer only one small piece of advice from my own frequent experience: Take them as opportunities for growth in humility!
Interestingly, there has been a generous response to this flawed message over the past few hours. It is almost as if people see the flaws as a clear indication of human need. In so seeing, of course, they are quite correct. And I can only pray that more and more people will see things this way.
So to those who understand and sympathize with obvious, self-evident, unmistakable, and totally unvarnished human frailty: My thanks.
Jeffrey Mirus holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history from Princeton University. A co-founder of Christendom College, he also pioneered Catholic Internet services. He is the founder of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.
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Posted by: koinonia -
Jan. 29, 2011 4:02 PM ET USA
A pleasant reminder of human frailty and of the gratuity and generosity of God's grace. After my own foibles and faux pas, I like to recall the words of the late John Candy in one of the funnier, albeit at times irreverent, movies of all time- "I like me...My wife likes me."
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Posted by: bsp1022 -
Jan. 28, 2011 9:15 PM ET USA
Don't feel to badly. We thought you were testing us to see if we were reading your missives or, possibly, helping us not feel so bad about our own efforts to deserve the grace [and humility] you reference.
