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12th
Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A
June 25,
2017
8:00 am St.
Mary’s, Pylesville
11:00 am St.
Matthew’s
Encouragement
By (Rev.
Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
Killing the Spirit
This morning, I want to talk about
encouragement – the importance of encouraging one another.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us to beware –
in fact, to be afraid of those who can kill the spirit. And you probably know
from your own experience that it is true. Our spirit can be killed.
We’ve seen it on sports teams, where the coach
is always on the back of the players – often kids – for every dropped ball or
missed point and never praises the players for their progress. They can kill the spirit of a player.
This killing of the spirit happens with
employees on work teams where a supervisor is always pressing for more and
better results and never affirming the results that are there.
This killing of the spirit happens at home when
a husband or wife is always picking at what the other has not done well, without
every affirming a good job that was done mowing the lawn, or preparing a meal,
things like that.
We’ve seen it in schools and neighborhoods where
a child is being bullied, being called names and being shunned. or refusing to
play with her.
A Study on Encouragement
Recently,
an organization called the Gotman Institute did a study that focused on the
ratio of words of criticism versus words of encouragement that the average
person hears. They found that the ratio
is 6 to 1.
Imagine,
the average person hears 6 words of criticism for every 1 word of
encouragement. Just tghink about that –
isn’t that unfortunate and sad?
All
that criticism creates an oppressive, negative, environment. It explains why some teams, workplaces, and
relationships are so toxic.
These
words tear down self-esteem and self-worth.
To return to Jesus’ words in the Gospel, this heavy ratio of critical to
encouraging words can “kill the spirit.”
Two truths about Encouragement
There are two truths about encouragment that we need
to know.
First,
everyone is hungry for encouragement.
I don’t care who you are, how successful, intelligent, attractive,
popular, or talented you are – we all need encouragement.
This is a basic truth. It is part of our humanity.
And the
second truth is that everyone can be an encourager. Regardless of your age, job, position, or
personality type, you can be encourager of others.
This is another basic truth. Yes, we all can do this and we need to be
aware of our power to do so.
Two Ways to Encourage
Now, there are two tips or strategies to keep in
mind in becoming an encourager of others.
First,
everyone wants to know that they are not alone. Sometimes we feel down and that we are the
only person in the world dealing with a certain issue or problem.
It could be a mom or day whose not sure they’re
doing the right thing with their kids.
Or perhaps our finances are tight and we can’t take the kind of vacation
that our nighbors are taking.
Or perhaps it’s a teen, young or older adult, who is
experiencing a real identity issue. In
these and many other situations, we can feel very alone.
So it is important for each of us to be alert to one
another, to listen and to let those around us that we understand or that we are
dealing with the same issue or that we’ve got other things that we are dealing
with.
Our sharing vulnerability in ways like this is an
important way of encouragement. It gives hope to the other person. It helps them know that they are not alone.
And the second tip or strategy to be an encourager is
that everyone wants to know that they’ve got what it takes. So we need to affirm the potential and
strengths of one another.
Perhaps that’s all they need to hear to apply for
nursing school or starting a project. Perhaps that’s what someone needs to
redirect them in a way that will really suit their God-given abilities.
Yes, we need to let others know that we believe in
them. We encourage them by letting them
know that they’ve got what it takes.
Jesus Encourages
Listen again Jesus’ words of encouragement in
today’s Gospel.
He knows that things will be tough at times and that
we and the disciples will need encouragment to keep growing and developing and
moving on, so he uses the example of a little sparrow and says that God watches
and cares and knows every take-off and landing that a sparrow does.
The conclusion is obvious: If God does that for a
sparrow, won’t he do much more for you?
After all, we count for so much more.
Jesus even says that God is so close to us and knows
us so well that even the hairs on your head are counted. That may not be too difficult for God to do
with some of us guys, but I think you get the piont.
Jesus is encouraging us because he knows we all need
encouragement. And today he wants you
and me to single out just one person to whom you can be an ecourager just as he
has been for you.