Walking in Others' Shoes

 So I'm at Walmart and the only checkout line is backed up and I overheard an associate say, Oh, they're just too lazy to check themselves out!

I copied this from Facebook, but it is a reminder not to be so quick to state your opinions. Think where people are coming from.

When I turned to look at the line, I was furious. Everyone in that line was well over 70 years old.

You listen here Mr. 20-something-year-old Walmart Associate. These folks are the backbone of this country. These folks are not lazy. They were not born into a computer generation. While you were playing video games and learning to navigate a computer, they were working in the steel mills, mines, dress and shoe factories, restaurants, stores, and countless other jobs, without the aid of a computer or your silly little phone you have your head buried in all while making between $14 and $16 an hour....You twerps would have never made it back in our day...

These "Lazy people" can still work circles around you and they have a work ethic and drive that you probably know nothing about. Just because someone doesn't feel comfortable using a self-checkout does not make them lazy.

And before I forget it... those lazy people pay your salary. Instead of you and others walking around being judgmental someone could have offered to help them on the self-checkout.

If you ever have to get your vegetables from the ground instead of the produce department guess who you are going to need help from... those lazy people!

Be careful of the toes you step on today... they might be attached to the butt you have to kiss tomorrow!

Copied and Pasted - Feel free to do likewise!

Amen Amen

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Mercy and Justice Are Coterminous

 LECTIO: James 2:13

For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; yet mercy triumphs over judgment.

STUDIUM:

It is an act of love for God to give us this Eucharist.  His love for us sinners anticipates the adoration we need to exchange with God.  He has given us this Eucharist because He has mercy on us.  And mercy trumps judgment. 
     Does it, really?  I feel James 2:13, is a bit misleading. If God isn’t about justice, then our hope for true justice is in vain.  We can see that there is no true justice, here on earth.  It is obvious that life isn’t fair.  Only with God will we find true justice.
     If God desired justice after the fall of Adam and Eve, we would all be sentenced to hell, forever. Then I wouldn’t be here in front of the monstrance, would I?  Luckily, God is also all merciful.  Hence, Jesus’ atonement on the cross.

MEDITATIO:

I am driving myself crazy!  This is a hard lesson for me, Lord.  It is against the culture I live in.  Usually, mercy means forget about judgment.  You didn’t forget about Adam and Eve’s sin.  Jesus atoned for that. You gave us this Eucharist, I see before me. How can I judge and be merciful, at the same time?  As you often told St. Catherine, “You are God; she was not.” 

Ugh!  I give up.

ORATIO:

I thank you Lord, that You are not a fickle god like the pagans worshipped, or even the non-Christian religions that worship a god that disregard justice to showcase their mercy.  My One True God is omniscient and satisfies the demands of justice with mercy because He is love.

CONTEMPLATIO:

Come, Lord Jesus!  You are God, I am not.

RESOLUTIO:

Never again will I judge my neighbors.  It’s above my pay-grade—way above.  

Judging

Sometimes, I wonder why God bothers with us.  People can be unfaithful, unthinking, dirty, miserable lowlife.  Really--why does God put up with us!  Why?

Reading a treatise Against Heresies by Saint Irenaeus, in this morning's office, I found one answer.  The saint says,

Just as a doctor is judged in his care for the sick, so God is revealed in his conduct with men.

Imagine that!  Following that line of thinking, St. Paul says,

God has made the whole world prisoner of unbelief that he may have mercy on all.

I'm gobsmacked!!  This is way beyond me.  Also, I kind of think it's passing judgement on God, which of course would be wrong--way out of line.  Who are we to even think of judging Him.  But wait a minute.  Don't people do this all the time?  When someone blames God for the bad that happens, aren't they judging God for what they perceive as His doing?

I think it's best just to trust God.  As mere humans, we can't see the whole picture, only the part that we play.  And I also think it's best not to judge anybody, let alone God.  Judge not, lest ye be judged.

Faithful Faith

My brother in community, Tom posts a little observation:


A virtue, not a metric

Somewhere along the line, the term "faithful Catholic" changed from a description to a grade. The adjective "faithful" changed from characterizing actions to measuring opinions. It stopped referring to the theological virtue of Faith and started referring to The Faith -- specifically, The Faith understood as an itemized set of propositions to which assent is to be given.

I think it's time we stop preparing for the Council of Trent.

If we do that, if we understand "faithful" as properly applying to someone who lives by faith in Jesus Christ rather than to someone who signs off on a list of doctrines, then I think we will have a much better grasp of what's going on. (We also might be able to wean people off that noxious phrase of self-puffery, "faithful to the Magisterium.") At the very least, our conversation and thoughts will be about Jesus rather than about which revision of which list is the one that counts.


My terminology would be to MYOB.  Taking care of ourselves is enough of a job.  We shouldn't be looking around judging others.