Christians are notoriously cantankerous! We always have been. We say we follow the Prince of Peace Who taught us to turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, give the coat as well as the cloak, not to judge lest we be judged, and to love and serve the enemy, and YET, we are forever condemning someone to the fires of hell, or calling them heretics or colleagues of Satan. We just don't get it! And as we read St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians, today, we see that we stand on cantankerous shoulders!!!
In St. Paul's day, the Church was a mess, too! The Corinthian congregation, which would have been about 100 to 120 people at most, was divided into at lest the 4 groups he mentions, and there were probably more—at least more turn up in Acts, Galatians and Thessalonians! All the "parties" that Paul mentioned in the second reading—the Apollos party, the Cephas Party, the Christ party, the Paul party—they were all good people, honest believers, who wanted to grow in their spiritual depth, but they found they were fighting over things and calling each other names. It was as if the harder they tried to be Christians, the more the "hate and anger," seeped out the cracks. Can YOU identify with that? I know I can.
Every time we try to make a positive change in our lives, it seems that the forces of negativity just line up to throw us off. The day I start a new diet, is the day I get a coupon in the mail for a free desert at Marie Calendars. Or, the day you decide to quit smoking, you get a free pack of cigarettes in the mail from Philip Morris. The day you decide to quit drinking is the day some brewery announces a new beer or a new liquor that you feel you just HAVE to try! AND, the day you decide you're going to apologize to your spouse, and try to make a fresh start, she or he says something that sends you into a rage, and before you know it, you're screaming at each other again. The day you decide to ease up on your son and give the kid a break is the day he puts a dent in the front fender for he was driving while texting, and you find yourself ONE MORE TIME coming across as the ogre.
Christianity isn't easy. G.K. Chesterton once wrote, "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, rather, it's been found difficult and has never been tried!" When we try to live it, we find that almost immediately we are so far off base we are embarrassed!
I suggest to you that Jesus understood this. So, He taught by example. Look at where he chose to live. The text tells us, "He went to live in Capernaum by the sea." We know about Capernaum from Luke's Gospel. This was a town that held a Roman Garrison of at least 100 soldiers and maybe as many as 250. A "centurion" who lived there and was in charge of them, built the synagogue for that town. This tells us that CAPERNAUM was a place where Jews and Gentiles—even Gentile soldiers—found a way to live together in peace, and to appreciate each other. Jesus could have chosen to stay in Nazareth, but Nazareth didn't like Gentiles very much, and nearly did violence to Jesus for once suggesting that they might even be good people! He could have chosen to live in Jerusalem, near to the Temple, but that's where the fanatics lived who wanted to overthrow the Roman occupiers. Rather, he chose a place where EVERYONE seemed to get along most of the time.
I suggest to you that it is in His choice of a place to live that Jesus teaches us by example……………………he surrounds himself with people who are peaceful, so that He, too, can be a peaceful person. Often our failures in life are do to a lack of adequate support for the values we want to make our own. An alcoholic who can't make a new set of friends, and has to return to the bar every afternoon to "chat" with his buddies is on a slippery slope to a relapse.
Recent research tells us that the success rate for marriages is directly proportional to the circle of friends of the bride and groom. IF they have as their closest friends folk who are in strong marriages, they have a good prospect of success. IF, on the other hand, they choose for their circle of friends, people who've divorced and are in bitter disputes with ex's, chances are they'll soon divorce, as well, no matter how good the union looked going in. THE ENVIRONMENT MATTERS!
And, He didn't pick everyone along the Sea of Galilee to follow Him as close disciples. He chose carefully. These, not those. This one, not that. Now, His choices, even though he thought about them, gave Him a run for His money—in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter was armed to the hilt, and managed to cut off the ear of a soldier before Jesus could stop him—so much for turning the other cheek! Nonetheless, they were people Jesus thought had potential to be followers of the Prince of Peace, and he chose to live in a town of peace.
Maybe this is the essence of becoming better human beings. We need to look around and find people whom we respect, people who are models of goodness, then we need to find ways to keep close to them. In the Celtic tradition, this was the Anam Cara, the soul friend. One tried to befriend people who would be good for one's soul.
It was good advice then, and it's good advice now. These "soul friends" can be from any place—they don't have to come from St. Agatha's, BUT St. Agatha's does have a lot of folk who would make excellent soul friends. Let's try to use the Grace of the Sacrament today to help us choose our friends wisely, so that we are better able to make of our lives benedictions of goodness and peace in our world. And may God bless you all. +
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