“What Do You See in the Mirror?” by Colleen O’Sullivan

“What Do You See in the Mirror?” by Colleen O’Sullivan

Wednesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Know this, my dear brothers and sisters: everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger for anger does not accomplish the righteousness of God.  Therefore, put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.  Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror.  He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like.  (James 1:19-24)

He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.  Putting spittle on his eyes, he laid his hands on the man and asked, “Do you see anything?”  Looking up the man replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.”  Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time and he saw clearly; his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly.  (Mark 8:23-25)

Piety

Lord, be merciful to us, we pray.  Show us the way back to unity as your family, here to do your will, reaching out in love to the lowliest in our midst.

Study

Even though I am “retired,” I always seem to be in a rush – to be somewhere, to get something done, to meet someone at a particular time…  So, I don’t spend a whole lot of time looking at myself in the mirror.  As James says in today’s first reading, we are like people who see ourselves in the mirror and then promptly run off and forget who or what we saw.  James isn’t talking about whether or not we’ve got our make-up on nicely or whether our clothes are clean and neat or if that shaving nick’s been blotted; instead, he’s talking about seeing the person we are called to be in Christ reflected in the glass.  Even when we happen to do that, however briefly, that glimpse is gone with the wind as our day gets underway.

James was writing to a community that was divided and angry.  And who among us wouldn’t know anything about that!   Whether we’re talking about politics or church, there’s plenty of dissension to go around in our own, present-day society.  And it gets pretty ugly at times.  Even many of our families lack a sense of unity or respect among the various members.

James suggests we be “quick to hear, slow to speak” and “slow to anger.”  He is, of course, speaking specifically about the Church.  Stop and listen when someone is talking.  We don’t seem to listen much today.  Mention “build a new church,” women in the church, Latin Masses, Pope Francis, Pope Benedict, dealing with clergy sexual abuse, LGBTQ persons and the church, or a whole host of other subjects, and you can see brains glazing over, becoming impervious to any further dialogue.  Not only do we not listen to one another, but we also spend the time the other person is talking formulating what we’re going to say next.  We can’t possibly listen and compose a speech at the same time.  James recommends taking in what the other person has to say and taking time to think before then responding.  

Unfortunately, there is no real conversation going on; just people trumpeting our own opinions.  There’s more than enough anger to go around nowadays, as there was when James was writing.  However, all the reactionary outrage in the world won’t lead us to find righteousness with God.

At the end of today’s first reading, James says that when we don’t listen and we’re full of “righteous” anger, we’re far from being religious.  If we want to be pure in God’s sight, we will do well to give up all the anger and dissension and reach out, instead, to the poorest and neediest in our midst, who in James’ day were the widows and orphans.   

Action

Unfortunately, we often get our “highs” more from being angry and argumentative than from doing good deeds for others in Jesus’ name.  I suspect all of us at times, could benefit from going off by ourselves with Jesus to have our sight restored.  We are blind to what is most important.  God didn’t put us here on this earth so we could argue and fight with each other.  God asks us to listen, to think long and hard before we speak, and to refrain from blistering others with our anger.

When you are praying, imagine Jesus leading you off by yourself.  For what healing would you ask?  What would the Lord say to you?