Take A Good Look

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blame, difference, faults, fear, Hearts on Fire, innocence, join, Prayer of Reconciliation, righteousness, separation, spirit, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, together

In the little book of Jesuit prayers entitled Hearts on Fire, I opened this morning at random to one called “Prayer of Reconciliation.” I was interested in what the prayer said about the mental process that can quickly lead to blame in our dealing with others as well as our judgment of their motivations. When we come from a place of difference or separation it becomes easy to denigrate the other while shoring up a skewed sense of our own innocence or righteousness. We would do well to carry a small mirror with us (if only a virtual one) to look into our own eyes and see the love that is God’s Spirit looking back at us before we judge another.

Lord Christ, help us to see what it is that joins us together, not what separates us. For when we see only what it is that makes us different, we too often become aware of what is wrong with others. We see only their faults and weaknesses, interpreting their actions as flowing from malice or hatred rather than fear. Even when confronted with evil, Lord, you forgave and sacrificed yourself rather than sought revenge. Teach us to do the same by the power of your Spirit. (William Breault, S.J.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Measurements

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critical, discerning, faults, hyper-critical, Jesus, judge people, Matthew, measure, mirror, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Somewhere in my possessions I know I have a 25′ tape measure. I come across it on occasion when I’m looking for something else but I usually can’t find it when I need it. If I’m trying to measure the size of something in my bedroom I often resort to using a sheet of paper since I know it is 8 1/2 X 11 inches. That works less well if what I need to know about is very small or very large and is only exact if the space I need is exactly consonant with the size of the paper so I don’t have to rely on holding my finger in the exact position of the edge as I move the paper with my other hand. It would be so much easier if I could find my measuring tape.

In today’s gospel Jesus is challenging our tendency to judge people and the indication is that we should stop doing it in any case, mostly because we tend to do it haphazardly or without any sort of evidence to back us up. (MT 7:1-5) He’s basically telling us to look in the mirror of truth to see our imperfections (the wooden beam in our own eye) before we go about pointing out those (splinters) of each other.

Our culture has taught us to be hyper-critical, I think, and some of us – myself included – have learned the lesson well. While it is true that we need to be discerning about our choices in our own lives, judging other people on surface evidence (or any evidence at all!) for any reason goes against everything we know of the teachings of Jesus. I’ll think of that today as I try to get a correct answer for whether or not a new computer stand will fit in the corner of my bedroom while I hear Jesus say: The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s Your Answer?

Tags

courage, faults, fear, fidelity, followers of Christ, ignorance, Jesus, mission, Paul, Peter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, zeal

Today my Church celebrates the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul whom we consider to be very important to the spread of Christianity in the world and examples of what it means to be followers of Christ. The comforting thing for me is that both of these men had rather significant faults and yet God chose them for significant roles and ministries. Peter was the one who hid in the crowd and denied that he even knew Jesus during the events of his arrest and trial. Paul, a Roman citizen, was a major figure in the persecution of Christians in the early days of Christianity. Considering those behaviors, I  am led to reflect on the effects of fear and ignorance. Peter clearly loved and followed Jesus throughout the three years of public ministry. Who of us, had we been a follower of the person some considered to be the Messiah, the one to restore the earthly kingdom of David (not yet recognized as divine), would have been willing to acknowledge him in a situation that would mean certain death for us? That was Peter’s fear. And Paul, an upstanding Roman citizen, was acting in the manner of the occupying nation in Israel when he was persecuting those who had become disciples of Jesus. He understood this as his duty and was ignorant of the true identity of Jesus until his conversion experience on the road to Damascus.

Considering Peter in today’s gospel (MT 16:13-19), we remember another side of him. He was the only one who had something to say when Jesus asked the gathered disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” His response of “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” was the proclamation of a man who was willing to spontaneously jump out of a boat into the water to get to Jesus (more than once!) for love of him, the one who proclaimed that love in a threefold answer to the question, “Peter, do you love me?” This same Peter did, in fact, die for his faith in Christ – crucified upside down – after years of leadership in the communities of faith. Paul, converted in a blaze of light on that fateful journey to Damascus, never looked back and became “the Apostle to the Gentiles” credited with more writing and more preaching than anyone else in the spread of Christianity in the known world.

I think of the dictum that “there’s a little bad in the best of us and a little good in the worst of us” as I ponder these two giants. Paul doesn’t always get high marks from women and Peter was rather impulsive but we need to consider the culture of the times and the personalities of these saints when judging them. What stands out is their zeal and the love that impelled them forward and once they woke up to their mission nothing ever stood in the way of their fidelity and courage. They certainly lived out – in word and action – their answer to the question Jesus put to Peter in the beginning. So today I ask myself, as Jesus the Christ asks me: Lois, who do YOU say that I am?