Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
This past January I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It is amazing how quickly and dramatically life changes with this type of news—especially for someone who has never really experienced significant health problems. Like everything else in life, this has had its challenges as well as its unexpected blessings. My parish community has showered me with cards, flowers, food, gifts, emails, phone calls, and text messages. The unexpected part of this blessing was the realization of just how important the gift of encouragement is. Each and every communication lifts me up and carries me forward. Each and every one reminds me that even though this is my battle, I am not fighting it alone but with many people at my side. I have come to see how I have underrated the gift of encouragement and begun to realize just how powerful even the smallest act of encouragement can be.
Today’s first reading from 2 Corinthians, St. Paul preaches about the gift of encouragement; he makes clear that encouragement is a gift from God. Paul points out the inherent circularity in the manner in which this gift operates in the Kingdom of God. God, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, encourages us in our suffering in order that we may encourage others in their suffering—all of us sharing in the sufferings of Jesus—for the Glory of God and our salvation. Paul is speaking of something so basic to our Christian identity that it may be easy to take for granted—or grossly underrated. How fitting that today’s Gospel is the Beatitudes—the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Anyone who has spent time studying and praying with these particular verses has probably felt overwhelmed at the prospect of fulfilling them! One of the most important parts of living the commitment to Christian perfection—as revealed in the Beatitudes and entire Sermon on the Mount—is being engaged with one’s Christian community. Giving and accepting encouragement from one another is a foundational element of God’s Kingdom.
I have always enjoyed encouraging others and I always look forward to the opportunity to do so. But my recent experience has revealed a quiet, unassuming side to the gift of encouragement; it is as powerful as any miracle or spiritual gift God bestows. Every day is chock full of opportunities to use it. I may never know if the next note or card, or text message I send will be the touch of Jesus—even a life changing encounter with Jesus for someone. Today, may God grant me the grace to respond eagerly to opportunities to encourage others and, more importantly, the grace to actively seek out new ways to use this gift in a more generously.
--Gail Lyman