Wednesday, 9/17/14
Paul’s beautiful hymn to love puts me in mind of some
thoughts about Christian love that came to me many years ago.
In my parish in Korea I was preparing for a Sunday homily on
the subject of, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” It occured tom me that I had
always taken that to mean I had to love my neighbor as much as I loved myself.
But, what if God were really telling me to love my neighbor as though he or she
were myself? That would be a command to practice empathy.
The following Sunday I had two morning Masses with
confessions in between. That was back when you could not even have a drink of
water after midnight if you were going to Communion or offering Mass.
After that second Mass I stood out talking to people,
wishing they would leave so I could have breakfast. But things brightened up
with two pretty girls stopping to chat with me. I was laughing with them when an old lady leaning on a stick
came tugging at the right sleeve of my alb. She said, “Father, look at my bad
eye.”
A quick look was enough. The eye looked like a badly fried
egg. I was turning away when I remembered the Lord wanting me to love my
neighbor as though she were myself.
Turning back to her, I found myself sharing her memory of
how beautiful her eyes had once been. Then, I became aware of how the kids
racing around us were coming close to that stick we were leaning against to
stay upright.
As I was telling the kids to play someplace else I got to
thinking that I hadn’t a cent to help the lady with doctor bills. Pushing that
thought aside was the sudden remembrance that it had rained through the night,
and the path over the hill from the lady’s house must have turned into a muddy
stream.
I told the lady, “You are a hero for making it to Mass over
that slippery path.”
Lifting her good eye to me, she said, “Oh, Father
understands.”
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