ATTITUDE
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily
for this 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time [B] is, "Attitude."
Today's first reading from the book of Job - triggered
for me a topic and theme for this homily: attitude.
Here's Job in a very dark moody mood - seeing life as
drudgery and doom. He doesn't seem like a happy camper. He sees himself as a
hireling - not running his own business. Everything is happening at him. He
sees himself as a slave longing for the shade. He has sleepless nights -
restless till the dawn. Notice the word "misery" and if you've seen
that movie - you know what misery is like. And listen to that last sentence in
today's first reading again: "Remember
that my life is like the wind; I shall
not see happiness again."
I wouldn't want to have a job working next to Job. I
wouldn't want to see him walking into the room in the morning - or afternoon -
or evening for that matter.
SO SOME
THOUGHTS ABOUT ATTITUDE
We know what attitude is and what it means - but to
put it into words - we could do that - but we might not be that clear with words
- but we still know what attitude is - especially a bad attitude.
In fact, for starters - in talking about attitude -
the adjectives "good" and "bad" - might be a good place to
start.
A good first question is right there: When it comes to
the big picture - our life - judge yourself - do you think you have a good or a
bad attitude?
When you walk into a room - what's the first gut or
belly take - people get about you?
Do they say, "Here comes an angry person?"
Or, "Here comes a happy person?"
Or do people look you in the eye or look at your face
- and try to get a read on you. Are they thinking, "What kind of a mood
will he or she be in today?"
If the saying, "Action speaks louder than
words" is true, so too is this saying of John C. Maxwell, "People may
hear your words, but they feel your attitude."
I sense we all have an overall attitude - that we show
or those who know us - get it - got it - good or bad. Then we have changing
attitudes - depending on the day - the weather - traffic - and a dozen other
things.
Then we have specific attitudes toward specific
issues, persons, places and things.
We might hate so and so because she is always telling
us about what she's going to cook for supper tonight - or how well her children
are doing in college or sports or what have you. Enough already.
We might have a great attitude towards the
environment. We hate it when people dump their Starbucks containers in the park
- but we have a poor attitude towards the poor.
So, attitude. It's a tricky thing.
TODAY'S
GOSPEL
Here we are still in the First Chapter of the gospel
of Mark. After healing Peter's Mother-in-law who was sick, who then feeds Jesus
and his disciples, a lot of people show up with their demons and their
diseases.
They want
healing. And Jesus heals them.
When it comes to healing - it would be smart to go to
Jesus for healing of any destructive attitudes.
I found a helpful distinction.
It comes out of some research by Stanford
University. A psychologist, Carol Dweck found that people's core
attitudes fall into one of two categories: a fixed
mindset or a growth mindset.
"With a fixed mindset, you believe you are who
you are and you cannot change. This creates problems when you're challenged
because anything that appears to be more than you can handle is bound to make
you feel hopeless and overwhelmed."
That's the first category. I have to think about that
- because at times I have said, "Once we hit a certain age, it's hard to
change." Then I add, "Sorry,
expect the same." "Expect Deja vu."
This Carol Dweck gal is saying, "No necessarily
so." She continues, "People with a growth mindset believe that they
can improve with effort. They outperform those with a fixed mindset, even when
they have a lower IQ, because they embrace challenges, treating them as
opportunities to learn something new."
I assume we have to accept this second mindset - the
growth mindset - if we come to Church, if we accept Jesus in our life - because
Jesus is always proclaiming, "Change!" "Repent."
"Grow." "Change your heart and not your garments."
Jesus gave us the Beatitudes. That's 8 attitudes to
put into practice.
PRACTICE,
PRACTICE, PRACTICE
Today's gospel has an interesting secret that seems to
be one of Jesus' key spiritual practices.
Mark tells us that "Rising very early before
dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed."
Where is your deserted place? It could be this Sunday
Mass. It could be talking a walk. It could be fishing? It could be a prayer
chair in your bedroom or back porch.
For my dad, it was the cellar. For my mom, it was the
right hand corner of a couch in our
living room - with her small rubber
banded prayer book in the top
drawer right there. A friend of mine - changed his garage into a chapel. A few people in the neighborhood found out about it and used it. It could be the Eucharistic chapel here. It could be this
church or St. Mary's when it's open.
Attitudes can change - mindsets can move from fixed
mindsets to growth mindsets if we take the time to pray.
But it has to be prayer - it has to be communion. It has to be more than me. It has to be God and
me, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with me.
This doesn't mean we
won't be interrupted. Here's Jesus interrupted in today's Gospel, but we have
to have the attitude, I need to find the time for Sabbath, for Holy Places, and
then do it.
CONCLUSION
If you don't want to have the Job attitude we hear
about in today's first reading, find hideouts, find time for God - for the rest
of your life.
And when with God, pray for and decided to be a happy
camper on this planet - on this journey
called “Life!”
And remember Victor Frankl’s comment that we have freedom
right here. He said, “The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s
attitude. Choose life. Choose beatitude
as our attitude.
