[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] FW: TOMMY

Sun Jun 6 17:39:11 UTC 2021

From: Larry Perry [mailto:larryperry at performancepress.ccsend.com] On Behalf Of Larry Perry
Sent: Sunday, June 6, 2021 12:10 PM
To: mmoore11 at kent.edu
Subject: EXT: TOMMY

  <https://r20.rs6.net/on.jsp?ca=5342a653-88c8-4706-a7ef-f6c686410015&a=1103316066373&c=6f49fc70-74b9-11eb-9d75-fa163e24df6a&ch=6f4b0606-74b9-11eb-9d75-fa163e24df6a> 

Letter from Larry

Sunday

June 6, 2021

Good Sunday Afternoon Everyone:

"FAILURE.... .. is the man who stays down when he falls."

 Father John Powell, professor at Loyola University in

 Chicago, writes about a student in  his Theology of Faith class

named Tommy. Here is his true story:

TOMMY 

  Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my university  students file 

 into the classroom for our first session in the Theology of  Faith.

That was the day I first saw Tommy. My eyes and my mind  both blinked..

 He was combing his long flaxen hair, which hung six inches  below his

 shoulders. It was the first time I had ever seen a boy with  hair that

 long. I guess it was just coming into fashion then. I know  in my mind

 that it isn't what's on your head but what's in it that  counts; but on

 that day I was unprepared and my emotions flipped. I  immediately filed

 Tommy under 'S' for strange...very strange.

Tommy turned out to be the 'atheist in residence' in my Theology of

 Faith course. He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined about

 the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father/God. We lived with

 each other in relative peace for one semester, although I admit he was

 for me at times a serious pain in the back pew.

When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his final exam, he

 asked in a cynical tone, 'Do you think I'll ever find God?' 

I decided instantly on a little shock therapy. 'No!' I said 

 very emphatically.

'Why not,' he responded, 'I thought that was the product 

 you were pushing.'

I let him get five steps from the classroom door and then called out,

 'Tommy! I don't think you'll ever find Him, but I am  absolutely 

 certain that He will find you!' He shrugged a little and  left my class 

 and my life.

I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he had  missed my

 clever line -- He will find you! At least I thought it was  clever.

 Later I heard that Tommy had graduated, and I was duly

 grateful.

Then a sad report came. I heard that Tommy had terminal

 cancer. Before I could search him out, he came to see me. When he

walked into my office, his body was very badly wasted and the long 

hair had all fallen out as a result of chemotherapy. But his eyes were

 bright and  his voice was firm, for the first time, I believe. 'Tommy, 

 I've thought about you so often; I hear you are sick,' I blurted 

 out.

'Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It's a matter of weeks.'

'Can you talk about it, Tom?' I asked. 

'Sure, what would you like to know?' he replied. 

'What's it like to be only twenty-four and dying?'

'Well, it could be worse.'

'Like what?'

'Well, like being fifty and having no values or ideals, like being

 fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making

 money are the real biggies in life.' 

I began to look through my mental file cabinet under 'S'

 where I had filed Tommy as strange. (It seems as though everybody 

I try to reject by classification, God sends back into my life to educate

 me.)

'But what I really came to see you about,' Tom said, 'is something you 

 said to me on the last day of class.' (He remembered!) He continued, 

 'I asked you if you thought I would ever find God and you said, 'No!'

 which surprised me. Then you said, 'But He will find you.' I thought 

 about that a lot, even though my search for God was hardly intense at

 that time.

(My clever line. He thought about that a lot!)

'But when the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told 

 me that it was malignant, that's when I got serious about locating

 God. And when the malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really began

 banging bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven.. But God

 did not come out. In fact, nothing happened. Did you ever try anything

 for a long time with great effort and with no success? You get

 psychologically glutted, fed up with trying. And then you quit. 'Well, one

 day I woke up, and instead of throwing a few more futile appeals over

 that high brick wall to a God who may be or may not be there, I just

 quit.

I decided that I didn't really care about God, about an afterlife, or

 anything like that. I decided to spend what time I had left

 doing something more profitable. I thought about you and your

 class and I remembered something else you had said: 'The essential

 sadness is to go through life without loving. But it would be almost

 equally sad to go through life and leave this world without ever telling

 those you loved that you had loved them.''

'So, I began with the hardest one, my Dad. He was reading

 the newspaper when I approached him.

 'Dad.'

 'Yes, what?' he asked without lowering the newspaper.

 'Dad, I would like to talk with you.'

 'Well, talk.'

 'I mean. It's really important.'

 The newspaper came down three slow inches. 'What is it?' 

 'Dad, I love you, I just wanted you to know that.' Tom 

 smiled at me and said it with obvious satisfaction, as though he felt a

 warm and secret joy flowing inside of him. 'The newspaper fluttered 

 to the floor. Then my father did two things I could never remember

 him ever doing before. He cried and he hugged me. We talked all

 night, even though he had to go to work the next morning. It felt so

 good to be close to my father, to see his tears, to feel his hug, to

 hear him say that he loved me.'

'It was easier with my mother and little brother. They cried with me, 

 too, and we hugged each other, and started saying real nice

 things to each other. We shared the things we had been keeping secret

 for so many years.

'I was only sorry about one thing --- that I had waited so long. Here

 I was, just beginning to open up to all the people I had actually been

 close to.' 

Then, one day I turned around and God was there. He didn't

 come to me when I pleaded with Him. I guess I was like an animal

 trainer holding out a hoop, 'C'mon, jump through. C'mon, I'll give you 

 three days, three weeks.'

'Apparently God does things in His own way and at His own

 hour. But the important thing is that He was there. He found me!

You were right. He found me even after I stopped looking

 for Him'!!

'Tommy,' I practically gasped, 'I think you are saying 

 something very important and much more universal than you realize.

To me, at least, you are saying that the surest way to find

 God is not to make Him a private possession, a problem solver, or an

 instant consolation in time of need, but rather by opening to love.

 You know, the Apostle John said that. He said: 'God is love, and 

 anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in

 him.'

Tom, could I ask you a favor? You know, when I had you in

 class you were a real pain. But (laughingly) you can make it all up

 to me now.... Would you come into my present Theology of Faith

 course and tell them what you have just told me? If I told them the

 same thing it wouldn't be half as effective as if you were to tell it'

'Oooh, I was ready for you, but I don't know if I'm ready for your class.'

'Tom, think about it. If and when you are ready, give me a call.'

In a few days Tom called, said he was ready for the class, that he

 wanted to do that for God and for me. So we scheduled a date.

However, he never made it. He had another appointment, far

 more important than the one with me and my class. Of course, his

 life was not really ended by his death, only changed. He made the

 great step from faith into vision.

He found a life far more beautiful than the eye of man has

 ever seen or the ear of man has ever heard or the mind of man has

 ever imagined.

Before he died, we talked one last time.

 'I'm not going to make it to your class,' he said. 

'I know, Tom.'

'Will you tell them for me? Will you... tell the whole world for me?'

'I will, Tom. I'll tell them. I'll do my best.'

So, to all of you who have been kind enough to read this

 simple story about God's love, thank you for listening. And to you,

 Tommy, somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven --- I told

 them, Tommy, as best I could.

With thanks, Rev. John Powell, Professor, Loyola University, Chicago

*****

May God Bless and keep you and yours and remember all 

those who gave their lives for us!!!

Larry

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