Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent

Lectionary: 182

Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. 

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her 

that her service is at an end, 

her guilt is expiated; 

Indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD 

double for all her sins. 

In the VA Hospital I encounter a lot of excitement about Pope Francis. He fascinates Protestants, Jews, Muslims and people of every sort. He has dazzled the media and made Catholics feel glad of being Catholic. After the initial, inevitable wave of skepticism passed, it seems the world is hanging on his every word. 

The Holy Father wants to recreate the Church as a “field hospital” where the wounded of every sort can find reassurance, comfort and healing. 

"I see clearly that what the Church needs today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity [to the people]. I see the Church as a field hospital after a battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have [first] to heal the wounds. Then you can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds. ... And you have to start from the ground up."

He continued: "The Church has locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules. ... In pastoral ministry we must accompany people, and we must heal their wounds."

So far I know of no major rules the Pope intends to alter but his policy of “comfort, give comfort to my people” as the primary mission of the Church is certainly refreshing. Every priest knows the challenge of balancing our pastoral mission against the rules. How can we maintain the Church’s laws concerning marriage, homosexuality and abortion and still make people feel welcome in our congregation? 

Much in life is uncomfortable, especially the consequences of wrong decisions. They are often punishing and feel like punishment. Can Christians act as healers and consolers to those who have already been punished by life? 

Our change in policy must flow from a change in attitude. Visiting Catholic Veterans, many of whom suffer micro-vascular disease, heart disease and COPD after a lifetime of smoking, I remind myself not to say, “We told you so!” Other Veterans suffer through withdrawal from alcohol and other toxic drugs. They certainly don’t need my thoughts about alcoholism. 

We have many adages to encourage us to be less opinionated and less judgmental: 

• There, but for the grace of God, am I. 
• Do not judge someone until you have walked a mile in his shoes. 
• If you judge people you have no time to love them. (Mother Theresa) 
• Never judge a man’s actions until you know his motives. 
• When you point the finger of blame at someone, three fingers are pointing back at you. 

In my own practice of non-judgment:

• I learn not to think. While I cannot turn off the flow of thoughts in my head, I can pay less attention to it. You might notice that, after sitting through a boring sermon, you don’t remember what you were thinking about. You weren’t paying attention to that either. The practice of prayer involves turning all my attention to God, or at least to the words of prayer, and ignoring whatever else flits through the mind. I might remember that I was distracted but I don’t remember what distracted me.
• I learn not to be so opinionated about myself. I have not been appointed as my own judge and what I think about myself or others is not important. 
• I learn to pay full attention to the other. I can notice how my opinions are bubbling up and judgments are being made, but ignore them as I continue to listen to the other. My first opinions of another person are nearly always severely premature and utterly useless. 
• I will notice how happy this person is that I am listening and not judging. He or she seems to relax, feel reassured and blossom before my eyes.
• In conversation with another I look for beauty rather than truth. The truth might appear in my mind but beauty is in the other. 

The Lord did not send us to judge one another. He is perfectly capable of handling that job – in his own good time.

He has sent us to care for one another and to set up “field hospitals” where the injured find solace and the sinner finds mercy.