(While I am overseas on Servite business, I am rerunning several columns from the past. This column appeared in the bulletin of June 9, 2013).

My father, who was an artist, once told me, “If you can’t make it pretty, then make it big and gold.” Maybe a corollary to that principle is “If you can’t make it big and gold, then just make it big.”  After all, the United States is a country that likes big things. To anyone who doubts that statement, I refer them to a website I stumbled across called World’s Largest Things, which claims to offer the world’s largest list of the world’s largest things in the United States (Never mind other countries: If it is the world’s largest, then it has to be in the United States).  There are hundreds of these landmarks on the list, all personally visited by the site’s webmaster. Since we are in the heart of the vacation season, it would be easy to draw up an itinerary for a summer road trip organized around visiting oversized things.

One might start in suburban Chicago at the world’s largest milk bottle in Libertyville, then go south through Indiana, visiting the world’s largest stump in Kokomo, head into Kentucky to see the world’s largest Dixie cup in Lexington, then continue on to my home state of Tennessee to gaze upon the world’s largest catfish in Paris.  Heading west through Arkansas, one could visit the world’s largest can of spinach in Alma and the world’s largest charcoal grill in Magnolia. Passing through Oklahoma, there would needs be a stop at the world’s largest bottle of hair tonic (Tulsa) and the world’s largest beaver holding a cow chip (Beaver)—though I do not know if there would be a lot of competitors in that last category.

Such a road trip would have to include Texas, the largest of our contiguous states. Of the many possibilities in Texas, one might see the world’s largest mosquito (Clute), rattle snake (Freer), fire hydrant (Beaumont), and mule shoe (Muleshoe). In Albuquerque, NM one could pause and refresh at the world’s largest scales of justice, which also doubles as a water fountain. The golden state of California is literally a gold mine of world’s largest things. There is the world’s largest thermometer (Baker), sack of cement (Colton), donut hole (La Puente) and bulldozer (Turlock). In Chico, at the National Yo-Yo Museum, one can find the world’s largest working yo-yo. However, weighing in at 250 pounds and containing 75 feet of string, I am not sure who could work it. Heading back to Chicago, who would not want to stop and gaze upon the world’s largest ball of twine in Cawker City, KS, which if unwound would stretch 1,325 miles. After such a driving marathon, anyone would surely be ready for a good night’s sleep. And, believe it or not, there is a “world’s largest” for that too. In tiny Sumner, Missouri, the wild goose capitol of the world, the world’s largest wild goose doubles as the town’s motel room. One can spend the night inside the goose for only $10 ($15 with the electricity turned on).

 I suspect that anyone who actually attempted such a road trip would not be interested in big things for a long time afterward. In fact, on such a trip one might even develop a deeper appreciation for Jesus, who spent his time calling our attention to little things and ministering to the little ones, those who are often overlooked or marginalized. When he spoke about his vision, which he called the Kingdom of God, he compared it to a woman kneading a little yeast into the dough and impacting the whole loaf or a mustard seed, among the tiniest of seeds, planted in the earth. That mustard seed, he says, can grow into “the largest of shrubs.” But it is still just a shrub. The mustard tree is still puny compared to the cedars of Lebanon of Jesus’ time or the giant redwoods of our west coast. Jesus’ point seems to be that our job as his followers is not so much to tower over everything as to mix in with it, not so much to control and dominate as to influence from within. His kingdom does not so much depend on a few big people but on a lot of little people who persist in doing the right thing. In our time, when the Catholic Church has been humbled by its own sins and failings, when few religious bodies of any sort have much influence on legislation or government policy, and when most all churches are hemorrhaging members, it might be good to remember that Jesus did not necessarily envision his followers forming the “the world’s largest” anything. He did, however, expect us to make a difference.

It is not hard to see a pattern in “the world’s largest” compendium. Most of these world’s largests are found in small towns or other communities far from the tourist trail. Having the world’s largest of something is a way of getting “on the map.” As followers of Jesus, we have a different way of getting on the map. It is through works of charity, justice, and obedience.

                                                                                                Fr. Joe