Sunday, January 31, 2010

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today's readings can be found here.



Today's second reading from the First book of Corinthians tells me that If I do not have love, “I am a resounding gong or a crashing cymbal.” I admit, week after week, it is difficult to write a reflection that can be both challenging to you, my reader, yet not hypocritical. Who am I to point out the splinter in your eye, when I have a plank in my own? I am not perfect, but I write because I love each person in the church and I love the Church herself. I write as a duty to love,to challenge you, and myself as well.

Last week, we heard that we are each a part of the body. One is the ear, one is the nose, and another the hand. We are each a part of the body of Christ. We cannot belabor that we are called to donate money to a cause, while another has the time to pray in front of an abortion clinic, while another can counsel broken mothers. We all have our strengths and our weakness, and we each have our purpose. Ultimately, this purpose is to love.

I write today, to challenge you to look at the life you participate in on a daily basis, the ministries you are involved in, and the things you are passionate about. The pro-life march this past week was a testament to the numbers of people who are passionate about life. It is important to remember, though, the woman who carries the unborn. It is important to remember that she must be loved. A woman who teeters on the edge of an abortion needs compassion and love, she needs strength and hope. A woman there needs the support of a loving community to pull her back and give her the strength to bear the child within. She cannot do it without love.

In the second reading, St. Paul tells us that Love is patient, love is kind. It does not seek its own interests, it is not quick tempered, it rejoices in the truth and bears all things. Your life is a gift to this broken world, but only if you have love. Otherwise, the sound of your cry is cacophony among the shouts of many others. It is a clashing cymbal, a resounding gong. We should follow the call that God gives to us. Following the call will help us to work and serve Him in the situations where we are best able to love.

If we have love, we see the individual, we see the need for healing, patience, kindness. Only if we have love can we bear, believe, hope and endure with others. I pray that you may follow God's call to love. I additionally ask your prayers that I won't just be noise in the world, but a loving voice, bearing, believing, hoping and enduring alongside the Body of Christ, calling each person to love others as God created them.

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