July 4, 2021 Deacon's Pen

Dear Friends,

In today’s Gospel, Jesus attempts to teach in the synagogue in Nazareth. Although the people who heard Him were astonished at the way He spoke with wisdom and authority, they chose to take offense at Him, and had no faith in Him. This prompted Jesus to say: “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place.”

In other words, ‘familiarity breeds contempt.’ One of my favorite examples of this is from Mark Twain. ‘When I was 7, my father was the smartest man in the world. When I was 14, I couldn’t believe just how ignorant the old man was. When I was 21, I couldn’t believe how smart dad got in just seven years.’

Why is it that the more familiar that we become with each other, we tend to focus more on faults and less on the good qualities? We criticize more than compliment. We find that that special person we couldn’t live without has become a challenge to live with. Why is it so easy to dwell on the negative, and so hard to see the positive side of our fellow man.

Just as our Lord’s kinsmen refused to see the Son of God in Him, we forget to see Christ in each other. If we could simply learn to see Jesus each time we look into the eyes of our fellow man, we might just feel as Mark Twain did when he was 21. When we start to love one another as Christ loves us, we will be HEAVEN BOUND!

MAY THE LOVE OF GOD BE WITH YOU ALL