It is getting close to election time. As such, in the near future, I bet many of us are going to have uncomfortable conversations with friends or family because their thoughts and choices don’t align with ours. As we know. those conversations can even devolve into verbal attacks. The uneasy feelings that result can be overwhelming and make us want to insulate ourselves from the outside world. Discomfort can also come from times when we read scripture, or hear a homily at Mass, and we are challenged by the message, because we are falling short in how we live our own lives. This reality of discomfort coming from both outside sources, and inside ourselves is a reality when we live as disciples of Jesus! Fortunately, we can look to this week’s readings for inspiration as to how we can manage the discomfort of following Jesus.
Our first reading provides some guidance regarding confrontation with the attitudes of the world around us. To “set my face like flint,” knowing that “the Lord GOD is my help,” points to the fact that our silence is often the best answer. Think about it, It’s rare to enter into a verbal altercation with someone, and to have them come away from that encounter totally won over to our point of view! As mentioned in the Gospel, taking up our cross involves losing our lives for Jesus’ sake. In practice, that “losing” is often a willingness to set our egos aside in order to let Jesus, or Jesus’ message, take center stage. While not providing us with an opportunity to prove how smart or “good” we are, a simple, “that’s not what I believe,” followed by silence, repeated if necessary, states our position without the extra words that the other person is, probably, going to shut out anyway. Furthermore, the beauty of deescalating a disagreement in this way is that the silence that is created provides a space for the Spirit to enter in, especially if we ask in prayer. Knowing that God is with us as we uphold justice, love and peace is quite the consolation for a bruised ego. Moreover, hopefully, this technique also provides us with the time to feel understanding and compassion for those who persecute us, and to pray for them as well.
As mentioned before, instead of just external influences, upon occasion, we have the times where we find ourselves confronted by our own internal discomfort as we struggle to live as disciples of Jesus. The Second Reading reminds us that sometimes we separate faith from life especially when actually behaving like a follower of Jesus proves to be uncomfortable. For example, I think most of us have taken on a “what’s in it for me” kind of attitude when making a decision, like voting, barely considering if others would be negatively affected. Further, we may practice our faith and go to church every Sunday, but then we don’t help the poor person on the side of the street, turning our heads the other way when we see them. Sure, each of these scenarios represent complex situations, yet in the Second Reading, we hear, “faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Essentially, scripture is saying that thoughts and prayers aren’t putting food in people’s bellies. We have a choice. When confronted with our failing to actually act upon our faith, the discomfort that results can be one that we embrace, or one that we push aside. Again, from the Gospel, we hear “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Taking up our cross involves not shying away from these situations, but instead, using them to propel us toward “doable” actions that provide us the opportunity to live our faith through “works.”
To conclude, whether it is an external influence that rubs us the wrong way, or the internal disquiet of struggling to put our faith into action that’s our source of discomfort, we have the choice of pushing those feelings aside, or choosing to embrace them. Nobody likes to be upset, or to feel lousy, but embracing that discomfort and using it as motivation for action, even when that action is silence, is key in building the faith and works connection, and for having a hand in the building God’s kingdom here on earth.
