|
If today has been “one of those days” for you,
meaning stressful and tiring, maybe you could let the
readings for Sunday bring you home for a while. Look
especially at the
Second Reading, taken from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.
• It calls us to “live with humility.”
Humility means to accept all that you are and all you are
not. Relax. You do not have to be God in order to be
beloved. Lives that have to be huge and greatly respected
and listened to and in control are based on fear, not
humility. Try to accept, gradually, the love God has for
you, the love that makes you safe. You are who you are.
• It calls us to “live with gentleness.”
This can be a little more difficult. Commercials say that
women have to be beautiful at all times or be rejected.
They must take care of others, be happy with their
detergent, be as strong as men, keep up the social
calendar and maybe have a full time job as well. These are
just some of the pressures advertising puts on women. But
relax. God is the gentlest acceptor of all, milder than
any product, milder than the air we breathe. Relax. You
are enough. You are loved by God, who is infinitely
gentle.
 As far as that goes, culture tells males that gentleness
is just for women and children. Men have to be tough, all
tough, and only tough. This is false. Yes, men’s and
women’s bodies and minds have the capacity to be
strong, but peace comes from balancing this nature with
tenderness toward our mates, our families, our religious
brothers and sisters, our elders, our friends.
• It calls us to “live with patience.”
Patience can be defined as “bearing pains or trials
calmly or without complaint.” This is a good enough
definition, but did you know that the Latin origin of the
word patience (patior) means “to
allow”? We are to allow the gift of life in all its
forms, not push it away because there is too much else to
do. God gives us ourselves one minute at a time, one hour
at a time, not all at once. If you want “to have it
all and have it now” you are going against your
nature. Each moment, each flower, each step is precious,
if we let it be. Accept the gifts of the compassionate
giver and let be.
• It calls us “to bear with one another through
love.”
Think how wonderful it would be if someone were to bear
with you, even when you mess up. You would not have to be
anything but your own adequate self, loved by God, able to
bear up under the surprisingly light burden of loving
others.
• Finally, it calls us “to preserve the unity of the
spirit through the bond of peace.”
One Lord,
one faith,
one Baptism,
one God and Father of all,
who is over all and through all and in all
(Second Reading)
We are all to keep this Lord before our eyes. The God who
gives lasting peace.
This is our hope. This is our call. This is the “barley
loaf,” the “one bread” we will receive in our very hands
on Sunday (First Reading
and
Gospel).
One bread, one body, one Lord of all.
John Foley, SJ
Write me an
email! I'd like to have a discussion with you about
this.
|
