The Pope characterized the disciples’ as “a little intolerant,” convinced as they were that “those who do not have the truth, cannot do good.” He explained “This was wrong . . . Jesus broadens the horizon.”

Everyone has the ability to do good, because that ability is rooted in our creation:

The Lord created us in His image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us. ‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can. He must. Not can: must! Because he has this commandment within him. Instead, this ‘closing off’ that imagines that those outside, everyone, cannot do good is a wall that leads to war and also to what some people throughout history have conceived of: killing in the name of God. That we can kill in the name of God. And that, simply, is blasphemy. To say that you can kill in the name of God is blasphemy.

Not only are we all created in God’s image, and thus each given in the depths of our heart the commandment to do good, but all of us are redeemed by Jesus, not only those belonging to a particular club. The Pope continued:

The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.

Doubtless Pope Francis’ words will be a challenge to many people. But a lot of what he has said so far in his papacy has been challenging – for all of us.

It is a simple but important lesson. We have a tendency to make judgments about who is in and who is out. Who is part of the club. And if we decide someone is not part of the in group, we don’t want them appropriate the benefits of the group. We don’t want to share what we have with the outsiders, whether out of pride, jealousy or insecurity.

Jesus has a much simpler approach. Is he against us? Is he speaking ill of me? Or is he going good deeds in my name? If he is doing good deeds on my name and is not speaking against me, that’s good enough for me, says Jesus.

And if it is good enough for Jesus, it ought to be good enough for us.

I weep. We weep. And knowing the Jesus weeps along with us brings some solace.

Here is a prayer adapted from one prepared for another natural disaster:

Almighty God,
We know that your thoughts are not our thoughts,
and your ways are not our ways.
Keep all who have been afflicted by this tornado from despair.
Sustain and comfort them.
Direct ongoing efforts to attend the injured,
console the bereaved,
and protect the helpless.
Deliver any who are still in danger.
Bring hope and healing that we may find relief and restoration.
We make our prayer through Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord,
Amen.

Children, teens, even young adults have always known integrated ball teams, as they have always known blacks and whites drinking out of the same water fountain, eating at the same restaurants, and sitting next to each other on buses and trains. Without minimizing the continued existence of racial (and other forms of) discrimination, the world is a very different place than it was in 1947, when Jackie Robinson came to play ball for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Or even a decade later.

It is almost impossible to imagine what it was like for Robinson. To face jeers, taunts, threats and to take them without fighting back. From opponents, fans and his teammates.

Seeing the cruelty he endured because he dared to seek to play ball with whites, was difficult. But seeing it is a good reminder of how cruel “good” people can be. (The scene where a young white boy mimics his father in shouting “go home nigger” makes the point powerfully.) It is an important thing to remember.

The film also invites us to look more broadly at the ways we minimize others who are outsiders – either by our own actions or by our failures to act when others behave badly.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail:

We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured.

It is easy for me to get into the habit of eating while I am doing something else. Unless I have plans to eat with someone, I bring my lunch to the law school and have a tendency to pull it out and munch on it as I continue to work on my computer. At home, except for dinner with Dave, I often eat while reading.

Yesterday, I made corn muffins on a whim. (I don’t tend to bake and my breakfast is most often fruit and yogurt.) I sat down with a muffin and my coffee, realized Dave took the newspaper with him and looked around the room. Noting that the dishwasher still need to be emptied, I took a bite of the muffin and started to get up to empty it. I didn’t think it linearly like this, but I was reacting to the thought, “Don’t want to just sit hear doing nothing; I can make this eating time more productive by getting something accomplished.”

Fortunately, as soon as the thought formed, I realized what I was doing and sat down. Just eat, I thought. And that is what I did. Sat and mindfully ate my corn muffin and drank my coffee, simply enjoying it and the moment.

When I eat, I eat.

We can get so used to multi-tasking, so used to feeling like we have to use every moment as productively as possible that it is easy to lose mindfulness. We need to be reminded: Whatever it is we are doing, be fully present in the act. Doing the thing we are doing (whatever it is) mindfully is enough.

I read the piece with pleasure because walking is a favorite pastime of mine. I love long hikes in the woods, but also afternoon or early evening walks in a nearby park or just around my neighborhood. Apart from the physical exercise, and the part my daily walks play in my training for the Camino I will walk this fall, walking clears my mind, slows me down and allow me to be mindful.

I also resonate with Rossmann’s discussion of walking and productivity. He writes

More than this, walking like prayer, makes me feel more like a human being, rather than a human doing. Sure, I could travel in a way that is far faster or spend my time producing more, but I often feel more liberated when I realize that I don’t always have to produce. I don’t always have to rush form place to place. I slowly learn with each step that life is not about efficiency or productivity.

Rossmann observes that people sometimes ask him where he is going during his evening walks, and seem perplexed when he responds, “I’m just walking.” When I read that, I was reminded of my time in Bali many years ago. In Indonesia, “jalan, jalan” – just walking – is a common evening pastime. The people in Indonesia see nothing at all perplexing about it.

It would be good if more people here could enjoy just walking, doing nothing but appreciating God’s creation.

What always strikes me is the way Jesus’ question is phrased the first of the three times it appears in the Gospel: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”

The question I have whenever I hear or read the line is what did Jesus mean by “these”? I don’t think Jesus is asking Peter is he (Peter) loves him (Jesus) more than the other disciples love Jesus. But what is he asking?

Do you love more me more than you love your friends?

Do you love me more than you love your wife? And the rest of your family?

Do you love me more than you love your life as a fisherman? Do you love me more than than you love your own ambitions?

I think he means all and everything. Do you love me more than anything?

As we sit with the passage, I think the invitation is to ask ourselves a similar set of questions: Do I love Jesus more than I love my husband? More than I love my duaughter? More than I love my ministry? More than I love [fill in the blank]? We are invited here to reflect on how deep is our love for Christ – and on what competes with our love for him.

Do you love me more than these?

You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink. That – to drink, the horse has to choose.

As I was driving home the other day, it occurred to me that “you can lead a horse to water…” is a different, more secular, version of something someone had posted online recently:

God determines who walks into your life….
It’s up to you to decide who you let walk away,
who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go.

It is an important thing to remember. I think of all of the people God has put in my path at different times in my life. Some I have let stay, and they have been real blessing. Others, like the Georgetown counselor, who I probably could have benefitted from, I pushed away. God put them in my path, but gave me the choice whether to welcome them or reject them.

I have to remember the words in a different way as well – a way that is actually harder for me. Just as God puts people in my path, God puts me in the path of others, people who could benefit from their encounter with me. Some of those people will welcome my presence. We will grow in relationship and learn from each other, and they will benefit from my presence in their lives.

Others, however, will push me away, and when it happens, it is a really hard thing for me to accept. I need to remind myself that the fact that I think I have something to contribute to their lives doesn’t take away the fact that it is their choice whether to let me do so. I can’t force my presence on them any more than one can force a horse to drink (or any more than the Georgetown counselor could have forced me to take his advice). And I remind myself that even Jesus let the rich young man (and others) walk away from him. He always let it be their choice whether to go or stay.

God determines who walks into our lives. It is our choice who we let stay and who we push away.

In the movie, two men – Edward (Nicholson) and Carter (Freeman) both having a terminal illness find themselves sharing a hospital room. Although very different men, they form a friendship and creates a list of things they want to do before they die. They travel around, checking items off of their “bucket list,” each learning more about themselves and each other.

One of the things on their list was to see the pyramids of Egypt. While they are there looking at the pyramids, re, Carter tells Edward that the ancient Egyptians believed that when you die, you have to answer two questions before you get into heaven:

Have you found joy in your life?

Have you brought joy to others’ lives?

You might spend some time today reflecting on those two questions. What are the joys in your life? And how have you brought joy to others?