Thursday, February 28, 2013

I am mesmerized today by the final verse from the first reading:

More tortuous than all else is the human heart,
beyond remedy; who can understand it?
I, the LORD, alone probe the mind
and test the heart,
To reward everyone according to his ways,
according to the merit of his deeds.

We are complex beings and there is nothing more intricate than the emotional component of our  human nature, that which we often refer to as our heart.  It has often been said that the distance between our head and our heart is 'a mile long.'  To many that sounds out a warning: "Don't go there!"  The 'heart' is at the very core of our ministry in Marriage Encounter:  identifying, accepting and sharing our feelings.  I love Fr. Bill's comparison of a feeling to a 'sneeze' -- they just happen.  We have no control over them.  They are a gift from a loving God and like any gift we must care for them with tenderness and use them to give honor and glory to our God.  The key to understanding the generosity of this gift is to realize how much our feelings  impact our attitudes and thus our behaviors.  We can change our attitudes and we are responsible for our behaviors.  This, I believe is the connection to the Gospel in today's readings.  

We, like the man in the Gospel might feel angry, resentful, annoyed, horrified, bitter, suspicious or even trapped if we awaken to find a poor beggar lying on our front doorstep, standing on our street corner, or enter into our office requesting help.  There is nothing wrong with those feelings.  Like a sneeze . . . . Identifying and accepting the feeling is a gift from God, inviting us to probe deeply to surface the underlying attitude.  Do we see ourselves as better than the beggar because we work hard in our job, or are frugal with what we spend so as to save for hard times ahead?  Are we more fortunate because we took advantage of the education offered to us, or accepted a job -- any job to be self-sufficient in life?  Do we have the attitude that you reap what you sow?  or is it an attitude that others will judge us by our associations?   if we give a handout this time, more will follow and we will ultimately get taken advantage of?  Does our attitude allow us to realize in the beggar a child of God, the body of Christ.  

Remember we can change our attitude and we are responsible for our behaviors.  Our Lord will reward everyone according to his ways, according to the merit of his deeds.

Love you!
MOM