Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Ten times in seven verses we encounter the word "Encourage" in some form or another in today's first reading. At some point I became annoyed with how frequently St. Paul was using the word. At that point I knew I was being encouraged to write about the word.
We are a people in need of encouragement and with a tremendous need to encourage others. We are polarized and are quick to pass judgement. Even the categories of polarity that I have in my mind are subject to the same judgements I would write against. We are tempted to divisiveness and yet these are not the words Paul offers the Corinthians today. Paul offers them encouragement.
Paul is writing to a church entrenched in Greek, secular culture and he beats them over the head with the call to have the courage to live the Gospel. He invites them to take courage in his sufferings and to take courage in his own encouragements. He reminds them that their courage flows from Jesus and is communicated by those in the Church living out the Gospel. Finally, he makes clear that their encouragement will ultimately serve the purpose of strengthening them for when they need that courage to support them.
This central place of encouragement is challenging to me, and I think to where we are as a church:
- When we see divisiveness between believers, do we encourage reconciliation or instigate it further?
- When we feel criticized, judged, neglected, or persecuted, do we make an effort to bear those realities in a way that encourages our brothers and sisters or that seeks the castigation of the offenders?
- Do we give others the benefit of the doubt, allowing us to encourage them toward growth, or do we assume they should have known better, and so we condemn them?
- Are we afraid to fail in front of the believers we are walking with, or do we know they will bear us up with encouragement?
- Are we encouraging others to seek the face of the Lord, or to subscribe to our favorite voice in the media?
- Are we encouraged by others' successes, or are we too prone to envy or a myopic spirituality?
- Do we encourage those carrying a great burden, or stand in judgement over how they carry it?
- Do we encourage those whose Gospel-oriented passions differ from ours and thus free us to pursue our own, or do we use their different emphases to discount them as ideologues and not disciples?
May we find our courage in the Lord. Our courage to suffer, our courage to succeed, our courage to encourage, and our courage to fail.
- Spencer Hargadon