May 28, 2011
Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter
During (the) night Paul had a vision. A Macedonian stood before him and implored him with these words, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we sought passage to Macedonia at once, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. Acts 16:9-10
“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.” John 15:18-19
Piety
Let nothing trouble you,
let nothing frighten you.
All things are passing;
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
He who possesses God lacks nothing:
God alone suffices. (St. Theresa of Avila)
Study
I think it was the famous Dale Carnegie, author of How to win Friends and Influence People who said that to change people, one thing you must do is make the other person happy about doing what you suggest. In fact, Carnegie says that he did not originate any of his ideas. One website quotes the motivational speaker and writer as saying, “The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don’t like their rules, whose would you use?”
If that is the case, Carnegie skipped chapter 15 of John’s Gospel that we contemplate from today’s readings as well as entire sections of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, too. He certainly skipped over where Jesus says “Pick up your cross daily and follow me.” Jesus is nothing but brutally honest with his followers. He does not tell them everything will be fine. Jesus does not tell them life is a box of cherries. Jesus does not tell them what they want to hear.
In fact, today’s Gospel not only reminds me how different “getting ahead” in Christianity is from getting ahead in society, it also reminds me of the exasperated expression attributed to St. Theresa of Avila.
According to the story as recounted by the website Catholic Online:
Sometimes…[St.] Theresa couldn't avoid complaining to her closest Friend about the hostility and gossip that surrounded her. When Jesus told her, "Teresa, that's how I treat my friends" Teresa responded, "No wonder you have so few friends." But since Christ has so few friends, she felt they should be good ones.
In fact, this same great doctor of the church helps us to better understand today’s Gospel and the mission of the disciples into unfriendly territory with this insight: “Suffering is a great favor. Remember that everything soon comes to an end . . . and take courage. Think of how our gain is eternal.”
Action
How are you going to be a good friend of Jesus this weekend? What suffering will you endure for his sake?
