THE ABILITY TO ACCEPT
OTHER PEOPLE
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is “The Ability to Accept Other
People.”
This is one of life’s great skills: The Ability to Accept
Other People.
On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, how good are
you in accepting other people?
I’d assume your obvious next comment would be: “Well it
all depends on who it is I’m being asked to accept?”
The obvious response to that comment would be: “Well,
that’s the whole point.”
UNFORGETTABLE COMMENTS
Have you ever read something that you have never
forgotten?
It could be a quote. It could be comment. It’s just something that is like a bumper
sticker on your car.
I have one. I often quote it. I often think about it. I
often hear it in my brain when I run into certain situations. I read somewhere
this comment: “The greatest sin is our inability to accept the otherness of other
people.”
Years ago, I wrote a whole book on this topic: How to Deal With Difficult People. It’s
out of print, so I’m not pushing it. It
sold 60,000 copies and was translated
into Korean and I still don’t know how
to deal with difficult people. It told me a lot of people want the answer to
that question.
How about you?
Do you have any difficult people in your life? Do you
have some people whom you can’t accept or you find difficult to deal with?
One of my favorite scripture texts is, “Is it I, Lord?”
That’s Matthew 26:22. Jesus says, “One of you is about to
betray me.” and the disciples at the Last Supper say to Jesus one by one,
“Surely, it’s not I, Lord?”
When I hear people complaining about priests or just
people in general, I like to say, “Is it I, Lord?”
It’s not nice to be rejected or not liked or not accepted.
A SKILL TO LEARN
How many parents or friends or others have said to their
kid or another, “Well, not everyone is going to like you.”
Teachers, waitresses, priests, human beings have to
learn, “Not everyone is going to like you.”
I read somewhere, “Well, 1/3 are going to like you; 1/3
ain’t going to like you; and 1/3 don’t care.”
One of our priests told us - he’s no longer stationed
here - so you don’t know who he was. “I’m
standing in the back of church on a Sunday morning and the cantor announces who
the priest is - who will be saying the Mass, and I hear a voice say out loud,
‘Oh no!’”
What would that be like?
TODAY IS THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN PAUL II.
Pope John Paul II was arriving at Kennedy Airport in New
York. This polish priest is out on the
tarmac - with a crowd of big shots - many from the New York Archdiocese. Some Monsignor - sort of in charge - spots
this Polish priest from some small parish standing there. He goes over to him
and says something like, “What are you doing here? This is for chancery staff -
or something like that” and so the priest leaves and goes back home.”
The pope gets off the plane and looks around and immediately
asks for his priest friend from Poland.
Silence.
Well the priest who ousted the pope’s friend - I heard he
got stationed way upstate after that one.
EVERYONE HAS TO DEAL WITH THE ACCEPTANCE REALITY
Take popes.
They too have to deal with this issue of acceptance.
Pope John Paul II was our pope for 26 years. He travelled
the world and was greeted by all kinds of people. However, someone shot him.
Thank God, John Paul II recovered and the Pope ended up forgiving him. Then
there was a Spanish Priest who tried to stab
Pope John Paul II with a bayonet at Fatima.
Not nice.
Next came Pope Benedict. He had his praise and I’m sure
some complainers.
So too Pope Francis.
So too presidents and governors, pastors and parents.
Everyone gets their “Oh yes!” and “Oh no!’ votes.
BOTTOM LINE: A CONCLUSION
So that’s my homily for today.
My title was, “The Ability to Accept Other People.”
The bottom line is: we all need to learn how to deal with
being accepted or rejected. We all need
to not commit the greatest sin: the inability to accept the otherness of the
other person.
Get over it: people are different.
Get over it: not everyone is going to like or accept us.
