This is a guest post from Father
Paul Jarvis, of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, who is
currently serving as Pastor of St. Joseph's Church in Rosemount, Minnesota.
I
don’t know if it’s ever happened to you.
It has to me. You’re walking
around a cabin’s corner, or down the hallway, or towards a doorway, and you
hear your name mentioned. And then there
are a few words that make you freeze.
Stopping
you from going around the cabin’s corner.
Into the vestibule. Through the
doorway. Why?
Because
your hearing, fine -tuned with the mention of your name, keenly hears the
disparaging, unkind words. The put down.
The dismissive tone. You freeze, and
then quickly turn around. Forever remembering
the words and the persons spewing them.
Well,
it doesn’t have to be forever, but they certainly will be if the inadvertent
listener is in the throes of insecurity.
One of
the many things that differentiate us Christians, as a people and as an organization,
is that we try to be different from the rest of the world. That is, with the help of Jesus’ teachings
and God’s grace. And a little assistance
from our guardian angels. We try to
intentionally live a heavenly way of life here on earth.
Contrary
to folks immersed in the ways of the world, we treat all people with kindness
and presume the best in others. Not
because God is gonna get us if we don’t.
That’s simply more worldly punish-and-reward thinking. No, we treat all people with respect – and
use words in only respectful ways – because we actually understand what Jesus
taught us, in how we are to live. Each
and every moment of the day, with each and every person we meet and know.
Agape
/ ἀγάπη…put into daily action.
Lest
we not know what that entails in our day-to-day lives, Jesus gave us His
positive spin on the ancient Golden Rule, which significantly amps up the
behavioral rule of his day: the
ancient Hebrew understanding was to not
do to others what you would you would not
have done to you. That’s the
negative angle on the Golden Rule. Jesus
takes that, and goes further: To actually do for others what you would have
them do for you.
Not
only is there no room for slander, unkind words and gestures, and gossip in the
rule (because we would not want to be on the receiving end of such things)…there’s
the direction to actually do something kind and helpful for another. Because you would want that done for
yourself.
Sometimes
it helps people to think that with each unkind word and gesture we employ, we
deliver such unkindness to Christ Himself.
If you will, contributing even more lashes to Jesus’ Passion. But given Jesus’ very practical guidance, we
could see each kind gesture we do being delivered to Christ. That was Mother Teresa’s method.
If
that helps guide your future behavior in everyday situations, then let us all
adopt such a guideline. And yet, even
more fundamentally, we need to understand why Jesus gave us His positive spin
on the ancient Golden Rule: Because
all people are equally loved by our Father, all are children of God. We are brothers and sisters to each other. There
really is no “them” in God’s realm.
To the
extent that we dishonor or are unkind towards another – whether or not we think they are within earshot – is the extent to
which we simply don’t get His teachings yet, and are lost in darkness and
delusion. The hallmark of a Christian is
how we treat others. We in effect
apostatize (leave the Faith, leave THE WAY, leave the community of disciples)
with words and actions of disrespect and unkindness.
Believe
me, no one wants to join a community
of darkness and delusion.
And so
I have some very good news for the assembly of Jesus’ followers here at St.
Joe’s. People are talking. I know, because I heard them…overheard
them. Some of the talk I’ve accidentally
happened upon:
1) During
Leprechaun Days, I heard parade watchers say that they felt very welcomed when
they went “to the services at St. Joe’s.”
(By their use of the term “service”, I assumed that they were seekers
not already of the Catholic Christian faith.)
2) Tailgaters
at the Irish Settlers Tailgate Party last Saturday evening came up to me and
enthused that they were having a great time.
Couldn’t wait to see what happens next year, even volunteering that they
would help. And opined that it was “great
that we were doing something with other churches in the area.” (Pastor Goodwin brought over quite a few
people from Lighthouse Church for the evening’s fireworks watch.)
3) I even
overheard a conversation in the Rosemount High School parking lot, just before
the Leprechaun Days parade, that they’ve “heard that there’s a real positive,
Christian spirit among St. Joe’s members.”
Hearing
that made my heart skip. I not only
didn’t freeze and turn around when I heard those words. I continued forward and blurted out, “I’ve
heard that too.” And I continued on,
treasuring those words for the rest of the day or two or three.
Many,
many thanks to the incredible number of St. Joe’s parishioners who witnessed to
Jesus’ teachings during Leprechaun Days.
From
the Knights making thousands of tasty porkchops-on-a-stick, to the Lock's for godparenting the whole Leprechaun Days some years ago,
to Bridget Samson and the Parish Life Commission and Leprechaun Days Committee
for organizing the Irish Settlers Tailgate Party, to Colin Patience for playing
the pipes in the parade, to Mayor Droste and council members for racing in the
Commode Championship, to the many St. Joe’s parishioners and school students in
our parade float.
People
in town are talking about you. Believe
me, you do wanna hear what they are saying.
It’ll make your heart soar.
Fr. Paul Jarvis
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