I love movies that are based on true stories.

For over 30 years I served as a Director of Youth Ministry.

We had weekly Youth Ministry nights and I would make sure that one a month was a movie night.

Back then we didn’t have digital access to movies like we do now, so I kept my eye out for good movies based on true stories and bought them – first VHS, then DVD and a few Blu-ray movies.

I still have and watch them and love being inspired by the stories.

A movie came out years ago about the true story of a nun who went to visit a prisoner on death row. He committed a very brutal murder.

This nun spent time with him, treating him like a human being.

She listened to him.

She prayed for and with him.

She believed he was a child of God, loved by God like you and me.

The nun also visited the father of the murder victim.

She listened to him and prayed for and with him.

I remember how he reacted to the nun’s care for the man who brutalized and murdered his daughter.

How could she think that man deserved her care or God’s love?

The year that movie came out I remember watching it with the adults and college kids on the Youth Ministry Team and then having great conversations after we watched it.

Was that violent man on death row a loved child of God after what he did?

If he went to confession before he died, would he be forgiven and welcomed in Heaven?

I remember one young adult saying, “You mean a person like that can go to confession and be forgiven and die and then bump into Mary, the Mother of Jesus in Heaven?!”

Are you envious because I am generous?' Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last." Matthew 20:15-16



This coming Sunday’s Gospel reading brought those memories to my mind.

Jesus tells us a parable (story) about what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.

God loves each and every one of us in a way my human brain cannot fathom or understand.

Jesus tells us through the parable how generous God is with His love.

I choose to dwell right there in my thoughts – God is generous with His love.

What a blessing.

Know you’re loved by God!