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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 taken from Dynamic Catholic’s Bible: RSV Catholic Edition.
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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.
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