We can all agree that the world needs more peace… everywhere. St. Francis believed that peace begins with each one of us. Certain people exude peace and some can even bring out the peacefulness in the rest of us. How can we each be more like peaceful people?
Our response to challenging situations can sometimes be anything but peaceful especially when we allow ourselves to wholly give in to negative emotions such as anger, hatred, jealousy, resentment and also when harboring un-forgiveness.
Think of times when it is most challenging to remain peaceful… conflicts with a spouse, children, other family members, a neighbor or even co-workers.
Fr. Ron offered a solution in a recent homily: “Absorb hatred and choose love.”
It made me think of the way a good sponge cleans up a sloppy mess on the counter.
If we could just absorb any negative emotions and then squeeze them down the drain allowing us to approach the situation cleanly, peacefully and with love, we are closer to unity and resolution.
In the second reading for this second Sunday of Advent, we are urged to “think in harmony with one another, in harmony with Christ Jesus…” When we sing in a choir, true harmony can only be achieved when we really listen to one another. A great director once said, “Singing in tune requires 80% listening.” We listen to the voices of others so that we can be in harmony with them and create beautiful music together.
So whether it’s that relative that you dread seeing, or those people who are sitting in your pew (it’s really not your pew) when you arrive for Christmas Mass, are we absorbing our negative and listening attentively to create harmony together?
Let’s work to be people of peace so that “the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together…”
Director of Music & Liturgy, St. Isidore