In today’s first reading from Galatians 5, St. Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit. Do you know these nine fruits? Here they are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Go through that list today and ask God to help you improve in the ones that need improvement in your life.
In the Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus continues his dressing down of the Pharisees. Afterward, a scholar of the law says, “Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.” Jesus had just insulted someone. Hmm..maybe He just wasn’t aware. So what would be the nice thing to do? Why, apologize, of course. Is that what Jesus did? No. He went on to speak more truth to the scholars of the law, which no doubt insulted them even more.
It’s hard to think of Jesus insulting someone, not just once but twice! Why would He do that? Because Jesus was more interested in speaking the truth than sparing people’s feelings. He knew that a temporary case of hurt feelings was WAY better than spending an eternity in hell. He cared about much more than their feelings; He cared about their souls. He loved them enough to speak the truth to them, even at the risk of hurting their feelings. It seems in our day and time feelings are supreme – the be all and the end all. Hurting someone’s feelings is the greatest sin of all nowadays. Makes me wonder – do we love others enough to speak the truth to them?
Father, give us the courage to speak the truth, but always out of a deep love for the other. Amen.
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