Today's post is a reflection of a sermon that I'm delivering this coming Sunday. The scripture text is from Matthew 5: 21-26 and 38-48. Following the "Sermon on the Mount" the Disciples receive further instruction on how to actualize the teachings. The text covers things like how angry words can kill, that revenge is never sweet nor effective in community building, and on loving those who appear to be un-lovable.
Jesus is teaching his Disciples how to build and live in community. The world that they lived in was Roman dominated and reflected a world in which idol worship, egotism, consumerism and militarism were all the rage. The text here reflects the countercultural nature of God in that things of the world need to be seen for what they are - misleading images of the truth.
Let's look at this teaching from another perspective, that of our health, wellness and wholeness (HW2). If we can learn how to become indifferent to annoyances and petty insults, if we can learn how to love through offenses and not retaliate, and if we can learn to create love instead of enemies, a great deal of our angst and anxiety will disappear. The indifference here is an Ignatian one, that of learning to ignore wordly things to allow for more space to love fully (agape love). This is in contradistinction to acedia type of indifference which is the inability to feel anything at all (think "whatever!").
Learning to love in a full and unencumbered manner through prayer and spiritual development allows for the world to take on its relative importance and for non-worldly things to come to the fore. My premise is that this transformation will lead to better and more loving interactions, less conflict, and a new perspective on how to live together in true community.
So give love a chance! Open yourself up to the healing power of perspective and decrease your dependance on wordly things.
Peace,
Dan
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