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When the World Thinks You Are Crazy
Where We Are
We begin the Third Week of Ordinary Time on this memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, patron saint of writers and journalists, known for his gentle approach to faith. In 2 Samuel, David mourns the deaths of Saul and Jonathan with heartbreaking eloquence. In Mark's Gospel, Jesus's own family tries to seize him because they believe he has lost his mind. Both readings explore the pain of being misunderstood by those closest to us.
The Word
David receives news that Saul and Jonathan have fallen in battle against the Philistines. He tears his garments and fasts in grief. His lament is among the most beautiful poetry in the Old Testament: "Saul and Jonathan, beloved and cherished, separated neither in life nor in death, swifter than eagles, stronger than lions." David mourns even the king who tried to kill him. In the Gospel, Jesus returns to a house, and the crowd presses so tightly that he and his disciples cannot even eat. When his relatives hear about this, they set out to seize him, saying, "He is out of his mind."
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Reflect
Mark's note that Jesus's own family thought he was insane is one of the most humanly relatable moments in the Gospels. The people who had watched him grow up, who knew him as a carpenter from Nazareth, could not reconcile the man they remembered with the phenomenon they were witnessing. The crowds, the healing, the controversy; it did not look like sanity to them. It looked like a crisis.
Anyone who has tried to follow God's call into unfamiliar territory will recognize this experience. When your choices do not fit the categories your family or community understands, the people who love you most may be the ones who try hardest to pull you back. They are not acting out of malice; they are acting out of concern. But concern, however well-intentioned, can become a cage if it keeps us from our calling.
David's lament shows a different dimension of family pain. He grieves for Saul, the man who hunted him, and for Jonathan, his dearest friend. The depth of David's love is remarkable. He does not separate the good from the bad in his eulogy. He mourns the full, complicated reality of these relationships.
Saint Francis de Sales understood misunderstanding. He spent years writing gently to those who opposed him, choosing kindness over confrontation. His motto, "Be who you are and be that well," invites us to stay true to our calling even when others cannot understand it.
Living It
If you are being misunderstood by people who love you, take comfort in knowing that even Jesus's family got it wrong. Their misunderstanding did not change his mission. Pray for patience and grace in those relationships.
David mourned even his enemy. Is there someone difficult in your life who deserves more compassion than you have been giving them? Let David's generous grief challenge your grudges.
In the spirit of Saint Francis de Sales, choose gentleness in one conversation today. The world does not need more arguments; it needs more kindness. As Francis wrote, "Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength."
Prayer
Lord Jesus, your own family could not understand what you were doing, and still you persisted in love. Give us the grace to stay faithful to our calling even when those closest to us cannot see it. Teach us David's generosity of heart, which could mourn even an enemy with beauty. And through the intercession of Saint Francis de Sales, make us gentle in our strength and strong in our gentleness. Amen.
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