The Gospel reading for this Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time strikes a chord with me for it reminds me of a time when I was upset with my best friend after an argument that splintered our friendship for several years. In hindsight, what we argued over is so trivial, that the details have blurred through the passage of time. However, the extreme feelings that we both experienced from anger, defiance and resentment to sadness, loneliness and despair remain vivid.
I remember being so upset with my friend that she could betray me and hurt me so intensely. I couldn’t believe she could be so hurtful. I immediately judged her to be an evil person, and treated her badly and spoke poorly of her to others. She was equally as upset at me, and shunned me and spoke poorly of me to others. Our feud became so embroiled that we ended up not talking to each other for the rest of the school year.
After a summer apart, we saw each other for the first time on the first day of the new school year, and had a moment of awkwardness. We were so used to being upset at each other, that seeing the person for the first time after a summer apart was kind of jarring. I felt like I had to be angry at her, but I didn’t feel the anger nor did I remember what I was so angry about. She was feeling the same way. As a result we ended up talking to each other for the first time. At first, about innocuous things, but eventually to the rift between us. After talking it through and realizing how unimportant it was versus our friendship, we made up on the spot and became fast friends again.
This passage reminds me of how I felt about her and how badly she was treating me, when I was treating her just as badly myself. We are both good persons, and as a result the evil light that we cast each other in was completely unfounded. I needed to look in a mirror to see how I was behaving and treating her before casting judgment on her.
--F Readings at USCCB.org Living the Word resource First Reading: Sirach 27:4-7
Psalm: 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:54-58
Gospel: Luke 6:39-45
