![](\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_dmDaLWNETzg\/S8tQkbPGNfI\/AAAAAAAABVw\/u6-QdaXz4GE\/s1600\/john-milton.jpg\")
<\/a>At the Boston Catholic Men\u2019s Conference<\/a> on Saturday, 1,000 men seated in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross were challenged to \u201cgo all in\u201d in the great poker game with Jesus Christ. This challenge applies to you and me, whether we have a huge stack of chips in front of us or just a pair of white ones, like the widow with her mite. English poet John Milton (1608\u20131674) was completely blind by the age of 44\u2014not as serious a calamity as Beethoven\u2019s deafness but certainly a handicap to the author of Paradise Lost. <\/i>His chips were depleted.<\/a>
Meditating on his \u201cspent light,\u201d Milton came up with the beautiful sonnet known as \u201cOn His Blindness.\u201d Any time you feel you have little to give, or the wrong thing, you can recall Milton\u2019s final line: \u201cThey also serve who only stand and wait.\u201d At the center of the sonnet stands Patience.<\/p>\n
When I consider how my light is spent<\/i> At the Boston Catholic Men\u2019s Conference on Saturday, 1,000 men seated in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross were challenged to \u201cgo all in\u201d in the great poker game with Jesus Christ. This challenge applies to you and me, whether we have a huge stack of chips in front of us or just a pair […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,<\/i>
And that one talent which is death to hide<\/i>
Lodg\u2019d with me useless, though my soul more bent<\/i>
To serve therewith my Maker, and present<\/i>
My true account, lest he returning chide,<\/i>
\u201cDoth God exact day-labour, light denied?\u201d<\/i>
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent<\/i>
That murmur, soon replies: \u201cGod doth not need<\/i>
Either man\u2019s work or his own gifts: who best<\/i>
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state<\/i>
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed<\/i>
And post o\u2019er land and ocean without rest:<\/i>
They also serve who only stand and wait.\u201d\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/6738513599344023043-4204034908937576173?l=yimcatholic.blogspot.com\")