Almighty God, whom to know is everlasting life, grant us to know Your Son, Jesus, to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow His steps in the way that leads to life eternal; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
When I was ten years old my father accepted a call to a very small community which was filled with interesting characters. The parish had about three times as many people as the town claimed. In truth, you may know some of these people. The man who came up with the idea for the old TV series “Petticoat Junction” grew up in that community and many suspect he based some of the strange people in that series on the folks in this little hamlet. I am pretty sure the grocer Sam Drucker on TV was based on the man who owned the local store.
There was one filling station and garage in town which served everyone. Glen, the proprietor, was a gentle man who kept the cars of all the widows in town running after their husbands passed away. He would remind them when it was time for an oil change and made sure the brakes and tires were in good working order. I cannot imagine that he made a lot of money, but there were people who would have been lost without him to help them keep up their cars. It could never have happened in a larger place. He truly knew everyone and their car in town. His station was situated on the intersection of the only two streets the town possessed. As Gertrude drove by his station, he would listen to the engine to see if it was running properly. If not, he would call and have her bring it by for a fix.
We pray today to almighty God whom to know is everlasting life. This is not the sort of knowledge which a new graduate from the local tech school may have about internal combustion engines. He knows a great deal about what can go wrong and how to fix the problem, but this knowledge is something very different. This is knowing someone, knowing that her husband used to take care of the car and she knows nothing about it, knowing that she is on a very tight income and helping her stretch the life of her car as long as possible, knowing that sometimes she just needs to talk to someone. Knowing God, really knowing Him, being a lamb of His flock, His friend, His person, that is to have everlasting life because He knows you.