The Place Between My Own Two Feet

This morning at mass, the priest gave a great homily. He said that often the people who are hardest to love, are the ones who need our love the most. Often those people might be the ones who don't even "deserve" to be loved. He said that too often, we sit around waiting for people to be lovable or forgivable. But Jesus calls us to love regardless, and to love especially those who are difficult to love in our lives. This was a good reminder for me about what we are called to as Christians. The Christian message about love is not fluffy and easy. It is difficult. This is good for me in community, in mission, with my family, and even friends. Too often, my thoughts are: "Well, this person  needs to do this. " Or "Why, doesn't this person  change this  about themselves." Instead, I am called to say, "I will love you with my actions and words, even though you are not doing what I want or expect, because as a Christian I am called to love you ...

TiRoro is the grandpa in our community. He is a seventy something year old conga player and dance teacher. I find it very easy to love him, partially because all of my grandparents have passed away and i feel like God gave me this gift of having an extra grandpa. TiRoro asked me a little while ago for sandals - flip flops like mine. I figured I would just get some for him when I went home but I mostly just forgot about it. Today he asked me again. Since we have some donations, I went into the donation room and looked. We had one pair of pink flip flops that were heavy and made lots of noise when he walked. He didn't like them because theywere so heavy and he just wanted them for showering. A few days ago, Fr. Louis gave this homily about sharing and how in community nothing he has is really his, especially when others have less than him. It was killer and made me feel like such a hoarding white American girl. Anyways, I was wearing my flip flops when I went to offer TiRoro ...