This past Sunday I became one of those ‘SUNDAY DRIVERS’ on my way home from church. I took a side drive to find Hope House Ministries, Little Portion Friary in Mt. Sinai. It was a great adventure, and I was happy to have found another faith-filled place. They also have delicious baked goods!
I have been thinking about this week’s reflection since last Wednesday and the sign at their entrance made the whole thing come together. The picture here says it all “Abraham was an immigrant, Moses was a fugitive and Jesus was a protestor. Judge less, love more, all are welcome here”
You see I was thinking about a homily I heard during the week that spoke of how we are to be commas and not periods. What do I mean? Well, the reading was about St. Paul and Barnabus while they were in Antioch. Paul was not trusted there because of what he had done in the past. Barnabas became a comma for Paul. Yes, Paul had changed and so had the period at the end of his previous story. It became a comma. There was more to Paul than his past.
Barnabas teaches us to read the next chapter about someone. We need to see them for who they are at the present moment. Paul was in a different place than in his early days of persecuting Christians. How many times do we put a period after someone’s story and don’t leave room for conversion or growth? How often do we judge others based on their past history? Do we add commas to people’s stories or just end with a period?
This week, see if you tend to put a period on someone’s life or a comma. The name Barnabas means ‘son of encouragement.’ Encouragement means adding a comma to someone’s life!
Till next week,
Sister Theresita
