Do Not Be Afraid

When I was very young I was always surprised that my grandparents never seemed to worry about the future. They took care of everything but I never saw them frustrated things didn't work their way. Rather they were very much at peace. All of them survived the First and Second World War. They had to deal with the challenges of communism. They were called names because they owned some land (about 4 hectares). Despite these things, they weren't afraid.

Every time I came to see them there were certain rules. The first was: there is no excuse for missing Sunday Mass. Actually there was a routine for Saturday evening. All boys had to polish their shoes for Mass the next day. There was a standard of how shiny they had to be. I have this habit even today. All shirts and pants were washed and ironed, prepared for the next day. My grandparents were farmers but Saturday evening they brushed their hands to make them clean for Sunday Mass. On Sunday morning everybody was ready to go. Sunday Mass was the center of the entire week.

The second rule was: be at the table for a meal three times a day. Nobody asked what we wanted to eat. The food was on the table and we really appreciated every single bit of it. By the way it was delicious. There was one extra rule: you never talked with a full mouth.

The third rule was: never interrupt when the adults are talking. My grandparents always had time to listen to us but we couldn't interrupt them when they had serious talk. I believe this experience taught us that there are more important things on earth than just our problems.

Rule number 4 was: you do what you have to do. As kids, we liked to play a lot but when grandpa asked me to do something the word "later" didn't exist. This helped me to realize that things depend on each other and my delay affected everybody else.

There were more rules but I mentioned those because they had something very important: be ready to live your life as it is, don't be afraid. Today is 31 years since my last grandparent died but their rules are still alive. My grandparents were simple people with low education but very wise. This wisdom made them the best professors. They were not afraid to speak truth. They were not afraid to live in a real world. They knew that the center of their week, was Sunday Mass. It was a beginning and the end of everything.