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Before I started taking my faith seriously, being a Catholic was easy.
I learned what I needed to about the Church in order to present it to the teens. I prayed with the teens. I read Scripture with the teens. I served the teens.
But I didn’t learn about the Church on my own time. For my own growth. I didn’t pray much on my own, for my own relationship with Jesus. I didn’t read Scripture on my own, to understand God better. I didn’t serve anyone but myself most of the time. I would help my friends if they asked – whether it was giving a ride to the airport, helping move stuff, or whatever it was. I was really good at helping my friends. I was also really good at keeping up the relationships that came easy – those people that I got along with, that I saw on a regular basis. It was easy to forgive my friends, to be kind to them, and to just spend time with them. I was really good at praying when I needed something, when it benefited me.
But that’s not what being a Catholic is about. I should of course have my friends and keep those relationships – but almost everyone does that. Where I should be giving more focus is being kind to those that it’s hard to be kind to, like the person who I’ve had issues with in the past that never got resolved, or the telemarketer on the phone (those phone calls from 408 numbers is getting really frustrating), or the person who parks over more than one spot in a parking lot (STOP BEING SELFISH KYLE, OTHER PEOPLE NEED TO PARK HERE TOO!).
It’s easy to look at this Sunday’s 2nd Reading (Ephesians 4:30-5:2) and think that I am loving and forgiving. But I most often do those things with the people that it’s easy to love and easy to forgive. But Paul doesn’t say to be kind and forgive only those I like. He says be kind and forgive one another. He says I am to “live in love as Christ loved” – and I know that Jesus didn’t just love and die for certain people. He didn’t just love and die for the Jews, or all the Christians since His death who believe in Him. Jesus died for every single person – past, present, and future. From Kanye West to Donald Trump to Barack Obama to St. Teresa of Calcutta to Adolf Hitler.
One way I’ve challenged myself to be more conscious of my attitude towards others was to remove the word “hate” from my vocabulary. When I used to use that word, I was giving into my anger, and giving approval to continuing to hold grudges or feel malice towards them. I started using “dislike” instead.
Our words are powerful, even if they are just in our thoughts.
