Saint Category Heading Goes Right Here.
View All Saint Titles
Today's Gospel
Meet People Where They Are
5 min
Gospel
Lk 11:42-46
“But woe to you Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! for you love the best seat in the synagogues and salutations in the market places. Woe to you! for you are like graves which are not seen, and men walk over them without knowing it.”
One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying this you reproach us also.” And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! for you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
Readings are from Dynamic Catholic’s New Testament Bible: RSV Catholic Edition
It’s time to take back your life.
It’s time to slow down to the speed of joy.
All revolutions have a moment when they begin. This is your moment.
Transcript
Meet People Where They Are
But is there a word or phrase or an idea that jumps out at you today? For me, there's this phrase, there's this idea toward the end, Jesus talking to the lawyer and explaining why he's reproaching them. He says, "Woe to you for you load men with heavy burdens to bear." I think about this one a lot. I think about this one a lot. I've thought about this one a lot for a long, long, long time. Ever since I started speaking and writing, I've been very sensitive and almost afraid that Jesus would say this to me, or a word to you, Matthew, "You load men with heavy burdens to bear, heavy burdens that are hard to bear." Because when you're writing, when you're speaking, I think it's easy to place heavy burdens on people that are hard to bear. And that sort of petrifies me. We've got this phrase I've been using for 20 years now.
Meeting people where they are and leading them to where God is calling them to be. And yes, it's hard to meet people where they are because people are in different places in their journey and have had different life experiences, and all of that affects who they are and where they are. All of that affects how they can make their onward journey. And if you're going to lead them to God, you can't overburden them. Otherwise, they can't make the journey. You have to lead them to God slowly and gently and compassionately and generously and thoughtfully and respectfully. And it like placing heavy burdens on them destroys all of that.
So that's the phrase that again jumps out at me today, but maybe he used a different word, phrase, or idea to inspire you to live the gospel more fully today. That's what we're trying to do here each day. We just take a few minutes so we can live the gospel more fully today, even by this much more. Because this much more every day will make you a saint. If you can live the gospel just this much more today than yesterday, and tomorrow than today, that will make you sing. And that is a beautiful thing. Have a great day, and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.
