Checking out the Harvest

 The gardens are overflowing…the fields are ready for harvest. The Word of God in this season is entering the final phase of Ordinary Time. There is one main focus: Christian, what is the quality of the fruit you’ve produced? How has the loving gift of paschal new life been at work in you…?

The readings for October offer us several check-points: We are not to separate what God has joined together. This refers not only to marriage, but to our tendency to settle for division when love points to unifying differences.

 Then we are challenged to check our priorities: Our relationship with God is the central jewel in the ring of our life. Has anything been trying to displace it? 

Third, we are given a flashback to the suffering Servant. This invites us to check out how we roll with the constant irritations of an ordinary day, learning to brush them off with a graced “Oh, well…” while we keep our eyes on the One who has paid our whole debt. 

The fourth Sunday is a fast forward to victory, and a yearning for the light to brand our consciousness with the realization that we are home free. 

Finally, in the fifth week, we are reminded of the Great Commandment, which is all we need at the harvest time testing of our life.

It’s a quick exam of fruitfulness. May your basket be filled to overflowing…!

Holy One,

You are my fullness.

Take as your own the blossom of my loving,

And give the fruit to those who make claim on me.

 

 

 

 

Dialogue...? Or Debate...?

 
On we go as we explore Pope Francis’ Fratelli tutti. Last month we saw that he dared to suggest doing a new kind of politics. This month we will explore what he calls “Dialogue and Friendship in Society” (#198-224). Don’t be deceived. What he suggests is more challenging than politics!

Real dialogue is quite different from debate. In debate there is
competition, and someone wins and someone must lose. Not in dialogue. Genuine dialogue means we respect another’s point of view even if we disagree, and we admit that it may have some real truth I need to attend to (#203). This dignity that we accept in the other is not something we have invented. Every human being possesses an intrinsic worth. As we speak with them they will sense that we do or do not honor this (#213). Ignoring this intrinsic worth will eventually erupt in some form of violence, verbal or worse (#219).

We have a lot to learn from people who are very different from us: indigenous people, those of another race or religion, or those with very different politics. We are actually unjust when we regard them merely as obstacles or annoyances (#222). 

What Francis suggests is rather surprising.He suggests we simply be kind. Yes, he suggests we deliberately call on the virtue of kindness. At the very least, he says, we resist being rude or speaking words that demean, sadden, show anger or scorn (#223). Kindness opens up the search for consensus. Hostility and conflict instead burn all bridges. Kindness listens, questions for further understanding, and then offers an alternative view or opinion.

He’s right. It bridges. It makes friends. It works!