In today's first reading 1 Tim 4: 12-16, St. Paul exhorts us to not "have contempt for [our] youth, but to set an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity. "
Simple but profound teachings! There is a psalm that says: Lord, I am not preoccupied with things too profound for me or beyond me. Living a spiritual life, St. Paul says, is about not showing contempt for oneself or anyone else, about not showing contempt for my life as a youth or any other time, not showing contempt for the elderly or poor or sick or lame, or mentally ill, the rich or the poor, immigrants or natives, those whose skin is black or yellow, white or red.
Jesus, in today's Gospel, Luke 7: 36-50, enters the house of a Pharisee. He is not greeted, as was the custom of Jesus' time, with the washing of his feet or the anointing of his head. A woman, a known sinner whose many sins were forgiven by Jesus, enters the house, knowing that Jesus is there, and, in profound gratitude, washes Jesus' feet with her tears, anoints His feet with "an alabaster flask of anointment" and kisses them. The host is disturbed by what he sees happening and says to himself: "If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner."
Contempt! The woman's behavior does not reveal contempt for herself or Jesus but love, purity and gratitude. The pharisee is definitely out of line, not setting an example "in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity." St. Paul by word and the woman by example challenge us to live a life of love, faith and purity. Our speech and our conduct are to reveal our faith in Christ Jesus, as did the conduct of the woman who anointed Jesus' feet. Our words and actions are to reveal the depth, the breath, the width, and the height of our love, our faith, our trust in Christ Jesus, in ourselves and in others.
If someone shadowed us today, what would our behavior or our speech reveal of us?
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