In the country church of...
Illustration
In the country church of a small village, an altar boy served the priest at Sunday mass. The boy accidentally dropped the glass cruet of wine. The village priest struck the altar boy sharply on the cheek and in a gruff voice shouted: "Leave the altar and don't come back." That boy became Tito, the Communist leader of Yugoslavia after World War II.
About the same time an altar boy served at mass in St. Mary's Cathedral, Peoria, Illinois. This altar boy, too, dropped the wine cruet. The celebrant at mass that morning was Bishop John Spalding. With a warm twinkle in his eye, the bishop gently whispered: "Someday you will be just what I am." That boy grew up to become Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, one of the church's most eloquent spokesmen for Christ. What a difference the words of those two celebrants at mass made! Freud said: "Words call forth emotions and are universally the means by which we influence our fellow creatures. By words one of us can give another the greatest happiness or bring about utter despair."
- Chinn
About the same time an altar boy served at mass in St. Mary's Cathedral, Peoria, Illinois. This altar boy, too, dropped the wine cruet. The celebrant at mass that morning was Bishop John Spalding. With a warm twinkle in his eye, the bishop gently whispered: "Someday you will be just what I am." That boy grew up to become Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, one of the church's most eloquent spokesmen for Christ. What a difference the words of those two celebrants at mass made! Freud said: "Words call forth emotions and are universally the means by which we influence our fellow creatures. By words one of us can give another the greatest happiness or bring about utter despair."
- Chinn
