Tuesday, January 25, 2011

I have this log in my eye...

One of my worst faults is my lack of patience with a particular group of people and it's unfair of me to let it continue. For the most part, I have patience with atheists, agnostics, and non-Christian religious people, but my fuse is much shorter with non-Catholic Christians. I feel awful about that and if you're a non-Catholic Christian, I'm sorry for my attitude in my past.
(I don't own the rights)

I have a theory about why this is, however, it's an excuse when there should be no excuses.

The other day I attempted to rationally explain something to a non-Catholic Christian in a comment on VitaConsecrata's blog, but I failed miserably. When I went down the path of the explanation, facing what I thought to be an irrational argument, I got petty, I got a little defensive, and I did not embrace a spirit of Love or Christian unity. Shame on me.

In looking for a good "come back," I consulted Patrick Madrid's brilliant work, 150 Bible Verses Every Catholic Should Know, flipping through the pages on the hunt for the perfect verse for my debate. God was guiding me with his sense of humor and wisdom.
(I don't own the rights)

My eyes brought me to page 147.

"Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of you eye,' when there is a log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." -Matthew 7:3-5

Well, shoot. Humility arrow aimed right at my heart.

This Sunday's homily brought up the most frequently used wedding reading. It is so frequently used, sometimes we glaze over the depth of its meaning because we've heard the words so often:

"Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." -1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Not only do I have a log in my eye, but I've let it catch fire. I've let resentment and debate heat up in my heart, preventing me from seeing beauty or potential in Christian unity. 

Dagonit.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Me too, more times than I can count or would like.

Christine said...

Wait, y'all read Corinthians this Sunday? Or Fr talked about Corinthians in his homily?

Overall, well stated. This Sunday was Christian Unity! How appropriate! :)

Unknown said...

Jim- Yeah, it's tough to think back on my impatience.

Christiney- He mentioned it in his homily because of Christian Unity week. Maybe I should have mentioned that in the post...Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Yeah...I was totally going to ask about that...I felt as though I was missing something during mass if it was in the readings!!

And I'm sorry I've caused you so much grief! LOL.
Although sometimes, God uses others to point out areas we need to work on in ourselves.

I do have to admit though...I'm loving the exposure to my blog!!! :)

Unknown said...

Oh it's not your fault! You didn't cause me grief. This has been my own fault since high school when I chose to harbor resentment instead of forgiveness.

I'm glad people are clicking on the link! I hope they don't actually read what I wrote...

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