Strength for the Week

Later this week we will be celebrating both All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Both of them, I like to think, could be combined in a "Communion of Saints Day." They celebrate the fact that we are in this together, a people stretching back to the beginning of time and forward into an eternity which has no end. We contemplate that when we take seriously our sanctification by the holy triune God, we join a vast community of fellow sinners who have so completely surrendered to God's work in us that, step by step, day by day, year after year, we are surprised at how we grow more "for others," and less "for ourselves." This week's strength for the week, then, reflects on how we live "for others" in those situations when we can't agree....
Sr. Kathryn James Hermes, fsp

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Experiencing genuine love for those you disagree with

Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. For:

“All flesh is like grass 

and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers,

and the flower falls,

but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

That word is the good news that was announced to you.

1 Pet 1:22–25

“...you have purified your souls...so that you have genuine mutual love....”
All of us have those times when we just don’t agree with others. We may see things differently because of our backgrounds, life experiences, personal agendas, values we hold dear, or, every once in a while, we have to admit, because of just plain obstinacy. In his letter Peter says that we are purified so that we can experience genuine love of one another by obedience to the truth. This is such a freeing phrase. Obedience to the truth calls me to become a bigger person. It shapes in me a great heart, and it attracts me to the sacrifices that will create better character in me. Four qualities are necessary to be able to obey the truth: simplicity, sincerity, uprightness, and openness. We must be like a little child who at a certain age is a bundle of wonder. Everything is new! Everything is full of awe and mystery! Such a child is open to all that is true. As adults we can recapture this sense of reverent wonder at what is coming to be, what the possibilities are, the gift of another’s values or the other side of the story. We can opt for the humility of listening and waiting and asking. Transform the smallness of my obstinate hold on my point of view into a large-heartedness modeled after your heart, my God. Mellow me, that I may give the gift of love to all I meet.

Excerpted from Cherished by the Lord: 100 Meditations, by Sr. Kathryn J. Hermes, FSP which we are pleased to offer at a 20% discount online this week.