Stopping the Insanity...

No doubt you have noticed as I have how our society seems to be in the grip of an anxious, fearful, and rather paranoid phase in history. And if you're like me, you're feeling a bit suspicious that this is all for someone else's benefit... the media outlets who thrive on sensationalism, the military defense contractors who profit from war, the pharmaceutical industry who peddles anti-anxiety pills and anti-depressants, politicians who rattle the saber occasionally to stir up support for anti-immigration policies... you get the idea of course.


By contrast, in the Gospel for today's Sunday mass, Jesus teaches the disciples to get past their oppositional and fearful thinking... thinking rooted in their own need to be special, to feel important, to be the "in-crowd," and instead of paranoia or judgment, to see others in a positive light-- giving the benefit of the doubt. Imagine how different things would be if we give strangers the benefit of a bias that sees people as good, that appreciates how people are generally doing the best they can, that we are all more similar than different, and that in the end, all people want to be happy.


Gospel
Mk 9:38-43

At that time, John said to Jesus,
"Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us."
Jesus replied, "Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink
because you belong to Christ,
amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.