{"id":10067,"date":"2012-03-04T07:00:22","date_gmt":"2012-03-03T20:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=10067"},"modified":"2012-03-02T13:09:14","modified_gmt":"2012-03-02T02:09:14","slug":"an-irresponsible-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2012\/03\/04\/an-irresponsible-youth\/","title":{"rendered":"An Irresponsible Youth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lent is an annual season<\/a> within the Church’s calendar to review our life and restore our relationship with God and with one another.<\/p>\n

Some years ago I received the following letter signed, “An Irresponsible Youth”.\u00a0 It is a good example of reviewing our life and wherever possible seeking to set things straight.<\/p>\n

Dear Bishop,<\/p>\n

A short time ago my wife heard on the T.V. that some men had stolen some bottles of wine from a restaurant when there was a black-out (electrical) here.\u00a0 My wife said \u201cHow awful!\u201d<\/p>\n

Her remark called to mind an incident in my life some 70 years ago, I had never given it thought.<\/p>\n

I was in Hobart for a sporting event.\u00a0 We were strolling through the Town.\u00a0 In what seemed to be a public corridor, saw on a door a notice written on a piece of wood (about 12 inches long) painted white and on the wood written in black paint (by hand) the words \u201cBishop of Tasmania\u201d.<\/p>\n

We were in a happy mood.\u00a0 I said \u201cWhat a souvenir!\u201d\u00a0 I screwed it off and took it. (Not of great value)\u00a0 I remember feeling proud of such a souvenir, \u201cWhat pride!\u201d I thought now<\/span>, I didn\u2019t think of the wrong I did, then No, now Yes.\u00a0 It probably was a depot for merit for some purpose.\u00a0 I say now after such a long time.\u00a0 In essence it was, depravation of the property of another and inconvenience to him.<\/p>\n

Feeling regret I enclose $50.00. Pay it into the funds of your church, or give it to a poor person, or do with it what you will.\u00a0 I am sorry to have done such a foolish thing and to have forgotten it.<\/p>\n

God Bless You,<\/p>\n

Yours sincerely<\/p>\n

An Irresponsible Youth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I forwarded the money involved in this act of penance and prayed for the man. As there was no name or address I was unable to respond personally to thank this “Irresponsible Youth” who was making\u00a0restitution and\u00a0peacemaking.<\/p>\n

I am blessed by this letter and act which includes the powerful words: “I am sorry to have …”<\/p>\n

May God give me the clarity and courage to say, “I am sorry to have …” and to thus seek reconciliation with people and God.<\/p>\n

See also, A Beautiful Letter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lent is an annual season within the Church’s calendar to review our life and restore our relationship with God and with one another. Some years ago I received the following letter signed, “An Irresponsible Youth”.\u00a0 It is a good example … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10067"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10067"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10507,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10067\/revisions\/10507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}