Word to the Wise
Monday, June 7, 2021 - Monday in the 10th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Cor 1:1-7 and Matt 5:1-12]Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all encouragement, who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God. [2 Cor.]
Back in the 1990's, when I was serving on the Provincial Council of our Southern Dominican Province, our head honcho (the "Master of the Order") came for an official "visitation." He met with us before traveling around the province to meet the brethren, and he began his chat with words from a previous Master of the Order, Bl. Hyacinth Cormier O.P..to the effect that the purpose of a visitation is "to encourage, to encourage, to encourage!" Those words struck me strongly and helped me to understand my own ministry as one of "encouragement." This is why St. Paul's words from his Second Letter to the Corinthians (quoted above) are among my favorites from the New Testament.
This has been especially true in my many years in campus ministry, but also in my years as a full-time itinerant preacher. College students experience disappointments in studies, relationships and career hopes. I tell the ones who come to me that disappointment is understandable and normal, but discouragement is dangerous. It can keep us from making that extra effort gained from experience of an initial failure. St. Paul catalogs some awful experiences in 2 Corinthians 6:4-5 and 11:23-33 in his efforts to preach the gospel. He tries to encourage the Corinthian community to stay faithful in the face of all kinds of difficulties.
Discernment of the "way forward" can be difficult in the face of feelings of failure, but it is the voice of the Spirit of encouragement. This is something we can all offer to one another in compassion for the hurt but encouragement to move ahead. The words of an old song come to me: "I pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again!" I think St. Paul would agree! AMEN