4th OF JULY .... A GOOD TIME TO LISTEN

By Lori Carmody

I was on my way to a birthday celebration with a dear friend when we began talking about whether we wanted to let the evening delve into politics.  We knew there would be people on both ends of the political spectrum attending the dinner.  Even the two of us saw such hot topics as the race to the white house, gun legislation, the minimum wage debate, what falls under the umbrella of pro-life and other subjects much differently.  We decided to share our thoughts and opinions on the car ride and if we could listen respectfully and understand one another during our 15 minutes alone, then together we would be able to facilitate the discussion if it came up with the others later that evening.  I am happy to report that we survived the ride and even enjoyed the dialog!

This Monday our country celebrates 4th of July.  It’s a day for liberals and conservatives, republicans and democrats, young and old, rich and poor, our many races, religions, and diversities of all  kinds to come together to celebrate our heritage.  Will that happen at picnics, in parks and at family gatherings or will we take the opportunity to cause further division in our land by how we talk or not talk with one another?

I choose to conduct myself on the 4^th of July as the role models below have demonstrated in the lives they have lived:

Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia could not have been more divergent in their presence on the Supreme Court.  Ginsburg is as staunch a liberal as Scalia was a conservative.  However, they respected one another’s opinions and it was common knowledge that they were best friends.  How often today do we hear of people refusing to even speak to those with opposing views?  What ever happened to lively discussions that made both sides consider the topic of discussion leaving after hearing one another’s point of view having expanded their lens on what they were discussing?  In the words of Saint Bernadette, “My job is to inform, not to convince.”  What if, perhaps, we simply inform the people around us of our thoughts and let them freely choose to agree or disagree?  And then if, in turn, we hear what they have to say that will inform us.  Aren’t we both the wiser for listening?  Comedian Dick Cavett was known to have said, “It’s the rare person who wants to hear what he doesn’t want to hear.”  Let’s strive for rarity.   

This week in the Catholic Church we celebrated the Feast Day of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (June 29^th).  Although they were both giants in our church history, it is common knowledge that they were definitely not besties.  They had different personalities and as such, lived out their respective calls to ministry in their own individual ways.  God used both of them to build up the church.  They did not have to have the same approach to problems in order to be effective.  They also didn’t need to have the same gifts in order to get the job done.  They only needed to have a heart open to serve.    Perhaps this weekend we can stop criticizing how another is going to run the country, lead the church, make future rulings in the court and instead try to see how we all are on the same road of wanting churches to flourish and our country to be a place where America truly is “where God sheds His grace on thee…”

The Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi is one of my favorites.  In it we ask God the favor of granting “that I may not so much seek to be understood as to understand.”   Blessed are we who are brave enough to live into these words.  

Thanks for reading.