love is...

Mass with Msgr. on Sunday mornings is always interesting. He didn't disapoint as he forgot to send the children to Children's Liturgy, and then remembered when it was time for them to come back. But the kicker is that the first lector sent the kids to Children's Liturgy, right in front of Msgr., and he seemed to miss it.

But... he did have an interesting beginning to his homily, which rarely happens. His homily was on love, and how we should love one another, without limits. I personally agree with that statement, and try to show and share my love for everyone.

That's really hard to begin doing, as a lifelong habit of annoyances gets in the way. But habits take about 20 days to form, so if you can make it over that hump, it works. I think it involves looking at the world with wonder and awe, and seeing people as misguided souls, not hazards to your life. Switching that focus really frees you up to love.

Once you are open to love, in my humble opinion, it's really easy to begin forgiving. "Forgive them Father, for they do not know what they are doing," is the greatest example of this that Msgr. shared. But I think that fact is very true, most of the hurts that we feel are from people not realizing what they are doing or the impact of their actions. If someone is delibertly trying to hurt you, then that's a matter of a different nature and they deserve a swift kick. A hurt that we feel is normally from a missed expectation that we had for another person. How can we expect them to do something, without first telling them - we aren't mind-readers. In this case, honest and open communication is the only way to solve that from happening.

Why is it so hard to do that in relationships? I never had a problem telling someone how I felt, but the other person always did. Is it because they were afraid of what I would do with that knowledge? Or a lack of maturity in handling their own feelings?

Things to ponder on a Monday morning...