Yesterday I spoke with a particular homeless woman who once again I'll call "Anna." Anna told me that we do well to be attentive to the many blessings God bestows upon us. She described how we receive many blessings from God, so we ought consciously to express gratitude for these new blessings which arise so often in our lives.
As I have previously related, Anna is not only homeless, but is addicted to methamphetamines. It is so easy to conclude mistakenly from our neighbor's mistakes that we have nothing to learn from our neighbor. If we judge our neighbor, we are deciding not to learn from our neighbor.
In deciding not to listen to our neighbor, we are closing ourselves off to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who speaks to us through our neighbor. We hear echoes of saints as our neighbor speaks to us.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola prescribed that persons perform an examen at the end of each day in which they look back at their day and recall the many blessings from God over the course of the day. Upon reviewing the numerous blessings from God during the day, we then give thanks to God and we praise God for so abundantly blessing us.
When we are grateful to God, we become more conscious of how much He blesses us. As we become more grateful to God, we become receptive to how He seeks to teach us in unexpected ways and through people who we would otherwise shun.
As we open our hearts to those amongst us who are despised, we open our hearts to Jesus. In how we react to those among us who are marginalized, so we treat Jesus.*
If we refuse to hear what our reviled neighbor has to say, we may be rejecting saintly advice. One who is maligned may very well be speaking the words of a saint without our realizing it.
Everyday we are presented with wisdom as we go about our day. If we are humble, we can learn from our neighbor.
If we love our neighbor, we can learn from our neighbor. God seeks to teach us through our neighbor.
When we listen to our neighbor, we love our neighbor as ourselves,** since we would like others to listen to us. Let us listen to each other, and thus learn from each other, and thus love each other. Amen.
* Matthew 25:40,45
** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14
As I have previously related, Anna is not only homeless, but is addicted to methamphetamines. It is so easy to conclude mistakenly from our neighbor's mistakes that we have nothing to learn from our neighbor. If we judge our neighbor, we are deciding not to learn from our neighbor.
In deciding not to listen to our neighbor, we are closing ourselves off to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who speaks to us through our neighbor. We hear echoes of saints as our neighbor speaks to us.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola prescribed that persons perform an examen at the end of each day in which they look back at their day and recall the many blessings from God over the course of the day. Upon reviewing the numerous blessings from God during the day, we then give thanks to God and we praise God for so abundantly blessing us.
When we are grateful to God, we become more conscious of how much He blesses us. As we become more grateful to God, we become receptive to how He seeks to teach us in unexpected ways and through people who we would otherwise shun.
As we open our hearts to those amongst us who are despised, we open our hearts to Jesus. In how we react to those among us who are marginalized, so we treat Jesus.*
If we refuse to hear what our reviled neighbor has to say, we may be rejecting saintly advice. One who is maligned may very well be speaking the words of a saint without our realizing it.
Everyday we are presented with wisdom as we go about our day. If we are humble, we can learn from our neighbor.
If we love our neighbor, we can learn from our neighbor. God seeks to teach us through our neighbor.
When we listen to our neighbor, we love our neighbor as ourselves,** since we would like others to listen to us. Let us listen to each other, and thus learn from each other, and thus love each other. Amen.
* Matthew 25:40,45
** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14
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