Sunday Homily, January 28, 2007 – 4th Sunday, Ordinary Time
Readings: Jeremiah 1, 4-19; Psalm 71; 1 Corinthians 12, 31 -13, 1-13; Luke 4, 21-30
Jeremiah – The Prophet Jeremiah lived before and during the great Babylonian captivity. He loved the people, but warned them that they faced catastrophe for their unfaithful ways.
Today’s selection has Jeremiah talking at the beginning of his call by Yahweh to speak to the people.
1 Corinthians, 13 – Here it is: Paul’s famous treatise on what love is.
Love is Patient, Love is Kind
Last night I had the privilege to be part of one of those magic weddings. There are magic and super magic weddings. This was super magic.
A while back I performed a wedding out of Dallas. Because the couple was not too clerical and I had the opportunity to stay for the reception, which I can seldom do here in Dallas, I wore a black shirt with a silver tie. Not a clerical shirt.
When I went into the sacristy before the wedding the woman who took care of arrangements was waiting for the priest. When she saw me in a tie, it was like, “You are the priest!”
For the rest of the time I was in that church her approach to me was disdainful, like I was repellent. I was getting judged for not having a collar on, like a good priest is supposed to have on. I was not a terrorist, I was a fellow Catholic, a priest at that time in good standing. I just did not have that little plastic tab on. Love is patient.
How sad we can be, even when we are in the midst of helping to perform a marvelous event like a wedding. The wedding was magic, but I have felt sad for the woman. Love is kind.
She & I are called to the same kind of love in two ways. We are called to be patient & kind with everyone we meet, even if the person is not a Catholic, or a Plano resident, or a criminal
We are also challenged to be patient and kind with ourselves when we fail. This may even be harder to do sometimes than being patient and kind with someone else.
Last night’s wedding was blessed from beginning to end. No one seemed critical of the ceremony or what we did. Why can’t all of our life be similar?
With whom do you struggle to be patient & kind? How patient and kind are you when you fail?