14th Sunday Ordinary “B”
July 9, 2006
TAKING THINGS FOR GRANTED
by Paul Rooney
Have you ever noticed how so many times we “take things for granted”? Something may have happened once, and from that time onward we “stereotype” that event or that person. We “take things for granted,” and find it difficult to allow New Truth to enter the picture.
I have a friend (Rev. Gary Botha) who tells a story that illustrates this point.
Once upon a time there was a Lawyer named Strange. He died, and his friend asked the tombstone maker to inscribe on his tombstone, "Here lies Strange… an honest man… and a lawyer." But the inscriber insisted that such an inscription would be confusing. Passersby would tend to think that three men were buried under the stone. So he suggested an alternative: "Here lies a man who was both honest and a lawyer." That way, whenever anyone walked by the tombstone and read it, they would be certain to remark: "That's Strange!"
Do you see how easy it is to “stereotype” someone or some profession? If I had said “Dentist” instead of “Lawyer,” there would have been a different (or no) reaction. If I said “Carpenter” you would have wondered what I was talking about.
I think every married man in this room knows what I mean when I say that we husbands tend to take our wives for granted. And that is not a good thing, because it is a form of judgment. The sad thing is that there is no defense against that kind of judgment, because it is generally unspoken; and when it is verbalized, it becomes a generalization (such as “you always…” something or other). Of course, I just know that wives never put their husbands in little boxes, so I won’t go there… Kids fall into that trap also; Teacher So-and-So is “always” like this or that; that Student sitting over there is “always” a nerd; my Dad and my Mom “never understand me,” and so on. All of us fall prey to this kind of criticism, without even thinking. And that is the problem.
In today’s Gospel (Mk 6:1-6) Jesus teaches in his hometown synagogue, and his teaching as you know is powerful and spellbinding. Nevertheless, his neighbors immediately put him in their predetermined “box,” and the teaching could not sink in. A higher priority in their minds was this obsessive thought: who does this carpenter’s son think he is? He’s not acting like the person I have in this little box of mine.” Their own stereotyping was their own stumbling block.
Now just project that scene a little bit into our own lives. Have you ever thought of yourself as an obstacle to God’s will? If you put people into little boxes, and do not let them be seen in your own mind as God sees them, are you not being a self-made obstacle over which you yourself are constantly stumbling?
When we do this to people, just like the people in Nazareth did it to Jesus, there is another word to describe it: a lack of Love. No one can reach their full potential, not even Jesus in his day, unless he is received with an open heart, and open ears, and an open mind.
Now, if there is even a remote possibility that we are taking our Sunday Eucharist for granted; or that we are taking a spouse, or parent, or child, or teacher, or anyone for granted, then maybe today’s gospel is a wake-up call for us.
There is a wonderful poem called “Blessings Are the Things We Take for Granted,” which is attributed to an Irish composer named Turlough O'Carolan (d. 1738). I think it is a beautiful way for us to get in touch with the fact that those very people and things closest to us that we take for granted, are indeed the most beautiful and awesome blessings we have received! Here is the poem:
Blessings
are the things we take for granted.
Each holiday we notice what
we see.
Most of us know the Earth is utterly enchanted
Yet we
walk through life and love mechanically.
Valuing one's gifts takes
resolution
After days and nights of fantasy.
Love brings the
sweet relief of absolution,
Enveloping our hesitance in need.
No
touch inspires so swift a revolution,
Transforming all the
hieroglyphs we read.
In your love is the charity of
spring,
Neither self-obsessed nor blinded by some
creed,
Embracing the grey dawns that blessings bring.
May God grant each one of us the grace to see the unlimited beauty that dwells hidden within each person we meet; to see and appreciate the beauty in all of God’s creation; and to renew our commitment to worship God with a new mind and new heart that sees with new eyes!
(Comments to Paul at deaconpaul@COX.NET )
Mary Our Queen Parish
Omaha, NB