Once I bought a computer program. I\u2019d been dreaming about it for ages, but it had similarly long been unaffordable. So when I saw the program available for half price on a well-established and renowned website I squeezed my savings, bought the program and started using it. Some time later, when I bought an upgrade, it turned out the software was not genuine. The producer didn\u2019t want to register my copy and it meant I couldn\u2019t use it anymore; the retailer didn\u2019t want to refund my purchase. So I had no money and no software. I reported it to the police and I started my discussion with the retailer and the producer as well. By pure coincidence both sides eventually made their decisions in the same week: the retailer returned the money and the producer granted me a special agreement. Effectively I got the genuine software for a fraction of its price.<\/p>\n
That situation was for me a solid proof that honesty, endurance and politeness can be rewarded. It showed me also that a disaster (in that case a financial one) can lead to a greater good. Don\u2019t get me wrong: I\u2019m not saying that we should or could do wrong things to achieve some goodness. I\u2019m saying that sometimes bad things happening around us can in effect bring some greater good; sometimes we lose something precious to us but then we might gain something more valuable.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s first reading from the prophet Isaiah contains one of my favourite texts in the Bible: \u2018My thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways are not your ways \u2013 it is the Lord who speaks. Yes, the heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts\u2019<\/em>. These words maintain my hope every time I have to face difficult situations affecting me but beyond my reach. When I look back at my life I can see God at work in all those moments of hardships, problems, misunderstandings, even losing my friends. All of them were really tough at the time, but from the perspective of time they were the moments when God\u2019s providence worked particularly strongly.<\/p>\n The example I gave at the beginning of my sermon might wrongly suggest that honesty, endurance and politeness always pay off in a prosperous and material way. That might not be true, particularly in a short period of time. But righteousness always pays off in a longer perspective. When we are perceived as truly reliable, honest, decent and helpful people welcome us and enjoy our company. We might not be among the richest people in the world \u2013 but surely we might be among the most loved ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Once I bought a computer program. I\u2019d been dreaming about it for ages, but it had similarly long been unaffordable. So when I saw the program available for half price on a well-established and renowned website I squeezed my savings, bought the program and started using it. Some time later, when I bought an upgrade, it turned out the software was not genuine. The producer didn\u2019t want to register my copy and it meant I couldn\u2019t use it anymore; the retailer didn\u2019t want to refund my purchase. So I had no money and no software. I reported it to the police and I started my discussion with the retailer and the producer as well. By pure coincidence both sides eventually made their decisions in the same week: the retailer returned the money and the producer granted me a special agreement. Effectively I got the genuine software for a fraction of its price. That situation was for me a solid proof that honesty, endurance and politeness can be rewarded. It showed me also that a disaster (in that case a financial one) can lead to a greater good. Don\u2019t get me wrong: I\u2019m not saying that we should or could do wrong things to achieve some goodness. I\u2019m saying that sometimes bad things happening around us can in effect bring some greater good; sometimes we lose something precious to us but then we might gain something more valuable. Today\u2019s first reading from the prophet Isaiah contains one of my favourite texts in the Bible: \u2018My thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways are not your ways \u2013 it is the Lord who speaks. Yes, the heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts\u2019. These words maintain my hope every time I have to face difficult situations affecting me but beyond my reach. When I look back at my life I can see God at work in all those moments of hardships, problems, misunderstandings, even losing my friends. All of them were really tough at the time, but from the perspective of time they were the moments when God\u2019s providence worked particularly strongly. The example I gave at the beginning of my sermon might wrongly suggest that honesty, endurance and politeness always pay off in a prosperous and material way. That might not be true, particularly in a short period of time. But righteousness always pays off in a longer perspective. When we are perceived as truly reliable, honest, decent and helpful people welcome us and enjoy our company. We might not be among the richest people in the world \u2013 but surely we might be among the most loved ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","category-year-a"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1224\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}