| A second San Francisco museum that I joined is the De
Young Museum in Golden Gate Park . It is the biggest museum in the
City. I went with another Paulist priest. As a member, I get to bring a
guest for free. As I went around to each of the rooms in the large
museum, I found that some of the art was understandable, and enjoyable.
But some was neither. One room had photos of people in bright red
raincoats. Some of them had on gorilla masks. I could not figure it
out, even with some explanation posters. When we finished our tour, I
asked where there was a Rembrandt. I was informed that the De Young has
only art from the Americas in its permanent collection. If there were
art from somewhere else, it would be a special exhibit. Thus, there
were no Rembrandts.
I could have beaten myself up with regrets that I did not know more about art, but I did not. Some of the rooms appealed to me and some did not. That is the way it is. I don't need to be perfect to enjoy a museum. Today's Gospel speaks about a room for each of us. Jesus says that there is a room for each of us with all our differences and shortcomings. Thomas and Phillip do not seem to be very bright in this Gospel. They cannot get what Jesus is all about, even though he has spent so much time with them. They are not perfect, but there is a room for each of them in the Kingdom. So there will be a room for me. Thérèse of Lisieux says that it is a waste of time to regret that we are not better than we are. She is into the school of self-acceptance. She figures God has a room for her with her faults and limitations. Can we accept ourselves this way? Can we accept others who are not like us? Jesus has rooms for them too in the Kingdom. A community is not made up of perfect people, or people who are all the same. We each have different gifts, and different limitations. To regret that we are not this or that, or that someone else is not this or that is a waste of time. What unites us is not uniformity, but the Love of God, and the acceptance of each one of us by God in the Kingdom. Who will have the room next to yours? |
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