Be kind.
From today’s Scripture: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind…You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”—Mt 22:37, 39
Life should be simple. Love should be simple. After all, these are two easy commandments to memorize. Yet, life, love, and following these commandments are not simple. Maybe part of the complexity is culturally, we do not agree what love is and looks like. A good way to understand this is from an elderly African American woman who I met in Collins, Georgia, at our used-clothing store, in my first year of priesthood. “We just need to be kind to one another and kind to ourselves, too.”
Let us pray: Lord may all my words, thoughts, and actions demonstrate love of you, my neighbor, and myself. When love is difficult for me, give me the grace, healing, and hope necessary to love, as you love me.
Today’s author is Father Steve Pawelk, Second Vice President of Glenmary and Director of Glenmary’s novitiate program.