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Friday 17th Week in Ordinary Time
Retreat and Conference Center at Bon Secours
August 2, 2019
ADMIRATION AND FAMILIARITY +++++++++++++++++
Ø A French author names George Sand once made this simple statement: “Admiration and familiarity are strangers.”
Ø I suppose that this is another way of saying, “Familiarity breeds contempt”
Ø This is the basis for what’s happening in the Gospel
JESUS’ ORDINARINESS +++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø Jesus returns to his home town of Nazareth and the people treat him with suspicion and derision
Ø After all, they had seen him growing up and knew that his home and family were just like their own
Ø So, how could he be so special?
Ø They reflect the unfortunate human tendency we all share of missing and even rejecting the talent, wisdom, or brilliance of those we know well
Ø Perhaps we do this because we just look at the ordinariness of one another
Ø Or we do it because we only look at the dark sides, the deficiencies of one another
Ø Or we don’t expect or don’t look for what’s special or unique in those we see all the time
MYSTERY OF THE OTHER +++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø The French writer Gabriel Marcel said that a mystery isn’t something that is so far beyond us that we can’t grasp it
Ø Rather, it is something that is so near to us that we can’t get a fix on it. It is so close that it simply eludes us
Ø Perhaps this is why we have a hard time explaining something as important, as pervasive, and seemingly as simple as love
CONCLUSION ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ø Today Jesus stands before the people of his home town with the mystery of God’s presence
Ø The mystery is not hidden or complicated, but they miss it and turn him off
Ø Perhaps the lesson is to look for the positive, the good, for the unique, right in the ordinary persons, events, and things around us
Ø Noticing in this way, we won’t miss God or Jesus when he is standing right before us with that breakthrough insight, healing word, or kind action
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