For a Lighter Side of Life

God’s Improvement An Initiative of Jesus Youth

Grandpa and granddaughter were sitting talking when she asked, "Did God make you, A Missionary Movement at the Service of the Church
Grandpa?" "Yes, God made me," the grandfather answered. A few minutes later, the little
girl asked him, "Did God make me too? "Yes, He did," the grandpa answered. For a few Don Bosco Utume September 13, Sunday: Issue 95
minutes, the little girl seemed to be studying her grandpa, as well as her own reflection in a
small mirror. Her grandfather wondered what was running through her mind. At last she • Jambo You(th) is a weekly news letter aimed at helping the Youth in moulding their daily
spoke up. "You know, Grandpa," she said, "God's doing a lot better job lately." lives in Christ.
Wish you were Jewish • Our vision is expressed in just two phrases: GOOD CHRISTIANS and
It was a small town and the Catholic Priest, the Protestant Minister and the Jewish Rabbi RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS.
were very good friends. Of course, there was a lot of kidding and joking between them all
year long. Pep-up : Stories for Reflection
To their surprise one year, the Priest and the Minister received a Christmas card from the To the Young : Treating Others

Rabbi. It read:
Roses are reddish, Violets are bluish When the Messiah really comes You'll wish you were
Jewish.
God’s Dilemma
A middle aged woman had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. While on the oper-
ating table she had a near death experience. Seeing God, she asked "Is my time up?"
God said, "No, you have another 43 years, 2 months and 8 days to live." Upon recovery,
the woman decided to stay in the hospital and have a facelift, liposuction, and a tummy
tuck. She even had someone come in and change her hair color.
Since she had so much more time to live, she figured she might as well make the most of
it. After her last operation, she was released from the hospital. While crossing the street on
her way home, she was killed by an ambulance. Arriving in front of God, she demanded, "I
thought you said I had another 40 years?"
God replied, "I didn't recognize you."
Last Drop
Excuses
Late Judge Ziglar, loved to tell the story of the fellow who went next door to borrow his
neighbor's lawn mower. The neighbor explained that he could not let him use the
mower because all the flights had been canceled from New York to Los Angeles.
The borrower asked him what canceled flights from New York to Los Angeles had to do
with borrowing his lawn mower. "It doesn't have anything to do with it, but if I don't want
to let you use my lawn mower, one excuse is as good as another."
Zig Ziglar
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Features
Points to Ponder : Just Me!
Saint of the Week : St. Robert Bellarmine
Jokes : For a Lighter side of Life
Last Drop : Excuses
Softening Forgiveness
Albert Tomei is a justice of the New York State Supreme Court. A young defendant was
convicted in Judge Tomei's court of gunning down another person execution-style. The mur-
derer had a bad record, was no stranger to the system, and only stared in anger as the jury
returned its guilty verdict.
The victim's family had attended every day of the two-week trial. On the day of sentenc-
ing, the victim's mother and grandmother addressed the court. When they spoke, neither
addressed the jury. Both spoke directly to the murderer. They both forgave him.
"You broke the Golden Rule--loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind. You broke
the law--loving your neighbor as yourself. I am your neighbor," the older of the two women
told him, "so you have my address. If you want to write, I'll write you back. I sat in this trial
for two weeks, and for the last sixteen months I tried to hate you. But you know what? I
could not hate you. I feel sorry for you because you made a wrong choice."
Judge Tomei writes: "For the first time since the trial began, the defendant's eyes lost
their laser force and appeared to surrender to a life force that only a mother can generate:
nurturing, unconditional love. After the grandmother finished, I looked at the defendant. His
head was hanging low. There was no more swagger, no more stare. The destructive and
evil forces within him collapsed helplessly before this remarkable display of humaneness."
Rubel Shelly
Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will
be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; Luke 6:35

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Editor: Shyjan Sdb
 Treat Others as You Want them to Treat You
A long time ago in China, a girl named Li-Li got married & went to live with her husband and mother- Just Me!
in-law. In a very short time, Li-Li found that she couldn't get along with her mother-in-law at all. Their From the time I was little, I knew I was great
personalities were very different, and Li-Li was angered by many of her mother-in-law's habits. In ‘cause the people would tell me, “You’ll make it—just wait.”
addition, she criticized Li-Li constantly. But they never did tell me how great I would be
Days passed, and weeks passed. Li-Li and her mother-in-law never stopped arguing and fighting.
If I ever played someone who was greater than me.
But what made the situation even worse was that, according to ancient Chinese tradition, Li-Li had
to bow to her mother-in-law and obey her every wish. All the anger and unhappiness in the house When I’m in the back yard, I’m king with the ball.
was causing Li-Li's poor husband great distress. To swish all those baskets is no sweat at all.
Finally, Li-Li could not stand her mother-in-law's bad temper and dictatorship any longer, and she But all of a sudden there’s a man in my face
decided to do something about it! Li-Li went to see her father's good friend, Mr. Huang, who sold Who doesn’t seem to realize that I’m king of this But the fault is not mine; I’m the greatest, you see.
herbs. She told him the situation and asked if he would give her some poison so that she could place. Then finally it hit me when I started to see
solve the problem once and for all. So the pressure gets to me; I rush with the ball. That the face in the mirror looked exactly like me.
Mr.. Huang thought for awhile, and finally said, 'Li-Li, I will help you solve your problem, but you My passes to teammates could go through the It wasn’t my teammates, who were dropping the
must listen to me and obey what I tell you.' wall. ball,
Li-Li said, 'Yes, Mr. Huang, I will do whatever you tell me to do. 'Mr. Huang went into the back room, My jumpers not falling, my dribbles not sure. And it wasn’t my coach shooting bricks at the wall.
and returned in a few minutes with a package of herbs. He told Li-Li, 'You can't use a quick-acting My hand is not steady, my eye is not pure. That face in the mirror that was always so great
poison to get rid of your mother-in-law, because that would cause people to become suspicious. The fault is my teammates—they don’t under- Had some room for improvement instead of just
Therefore, I have given you a number of herbs that will slowly build up poison in her body. Every stand. hate.
other day prepare some delicious meal and put a little of these herbs in her serving. Now, in order to The fault is my coaches—what a terrible plan. So I stopped blaming others and I started to grow.
make sure that nobody suspects you, when she dies, you must be very careful to act very friendly The fault is the call by that blind referee. My play got much better and it started to show.
towards her. 'Don't argue with her, obey her every wish, and treat her like a queen.' Li-Li was so And all of my teammates didn’t seem quite so
happy. She thanked Mr. Huang and hurried home to start her plot of murdering her mother-in-law.
bad.
Weeks went by, and months went by, and every other day, Li-Li served the specially treated food to
her mother-in-law. She remembered what Mr. Huang had said about avoiding suspicion, so she I learned to depend on the good friends I had.
controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law, and treated her like her own mother. Now I like myself better since I started to see
After six months had passed, the whole household had changed. Li-Li had practiced controlling her That I was lousy being great—I’m much better
temper so much that she found that she almost never got mad or upset. She hadn't had an argu- being me.
ment with her mother-in-law in six months because she now seemed much kinder and easier to get Tom Krause.
along with.
The mother-in-law's attitude toward Li-Li changed, and she began to love Li-Li like her own daugh-
ter. She kept telling friends and relatives that Li-Li was the best daughter-in-law one could ever find. SAINT for the WEEK
Li-Li and her mother-in-law were now treating each other like a real mother and daughter. Li-Li's September 17 Robert Bellarmine
husband was very happy to see what was happening. He was born at Montepulciano in Tuscany in 1542 and was an all-round ‘Renaissance man’:
One day, Li-Li came to see Mr. Huang and asked for his help again She said, 'Dear Mr. Huang, writer, poet, musician, orator. He joined the Jesuits and was ordained in 1570 at Ghent in the
please help me to keep the poison from killing my mother-in-law. She's changed into such a nice Low Countries. A distinguished theologian, he produced the complete synthesis of the Catho-
woman, and I love her like my own mother. I do not want her to die because of the poison I gave lic faith called the Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian Faith. He lived extremely
her.' frugally and humbly, constantly giving away his possessions to the poor. He was a man of
Mr. Huang smiled and nodded his head. 'Li-Li, there's nothing to worry about. I never gave you any modesty and charity. He was a moderating influence in the case of the astronomer Galileo.
poison. The herbs I gave you were vitamins to improve her health. The only poison was in your Many of those in the Church who opposed Galileo’s view of a heliocentric universe had their
mind and your attitude toward her, but that has been all washed away by the love which you gave to own agenda to pursue; Bellarmine realised this and acted as Galileo’s unofficial protector. He
her.' urged caution in the case, but admitted that if what Galileo taught proved to be correct, then
HAVE YOU REALIZED that how you treat others is exactly how they will treat you? There is a wise
Scripture would have to be interpreted differently, as indeed it does. He died in 1621, he was
Chinese saying: 'The person who loves others will also be loved in return.' God might be trying to
work in another person's life through you. canonized in 1930, and was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1931.

'A candle loses nothing if it is used to light another one' If I want my dreams to come true, I must not oversleep.
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