Open your heart to "experiencing others"

Why do we want whatever we aren’t getting? Why aren’t we satisfied with what is? Why is it so difficult to slow down, be still and find time to breathe in all the gifts around us: the love others offer us, the smiles and hugs our children share with us, the slobbery kisses from our furry pets after a long day at work, etc. So often these days we seem dissatisfied with what we have; unappreciative of what has been given to us or shared with us. Maybe we find ourselves criticizing the work of others or claiming that someone is not trying hard enough because the work isn’t up to our own “higher” standards.

In today’s Gospel, the Jews threw stones at Jesus, called him a blasphemer and fake because he wasn’t doing or saying what they felt he needed to do so as to be believed. The Jews were looking for the sign that they wanted, not that which God had provided them: Jesus in flesh and bone – human. Jesus told the Jews to believe his actions/works even if they weren’t willing to believe his words for “the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Nonetheless, the Jews tried to arrest him for blasphemy but Jesus managed to escape and flee across the river Jordan. He fled to the location where his cousin, John the Baptist, had first baptized repentant sinners. Jesus assuming the location where John baptized is no mistake. John attracted followers solely based on his words, his preaching. He performed no miracles or convincing acts. Jesus waited patiently there on the other side of the Jordan and eventually followers joined Him commenting that all that John had said about him had been true even though John had performed no “sign.”

Developing a closer relationship with God requires not that we wait for the right sign or the perfect words, but rather that we trust in that which we cannot see or hear; trust in the non-empirical. Developing a closer, more trusting relationship with others (colleagues, family, strangers) is an extension of our relationship with God. We must do more than simply open our hearts to others. We must open our hearts to “experiencing others.” We must trust in the experiences that others have (have had) and the work that the Holy Spirit is affecting in them, remembering to exercise patience “trusting in the slow work of God” (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin). Life doesn’t happen on our time table or on our terms. 

Stop pushing. Stop pulling. Take the hand of your child, colleague or a stranger and walk alongside him/her. 

Slow down. 

Breathe. 

Be courageously patient.

Author: Madeline Maggard, Language Department