Myopia, or nearsightedness, is a vision condition in which people can see close objects clearly, but objects farther away appear blurred. “My”opia is when I can only clearly see “my” perspective and those of others are blurred. In this edition of By Your Life, we’ll discuss a cure for “my”opia.
Mass Readings Audio
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/2020/20_01_26.mp3
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – January 26, 2020
Welcome to the ninety-sixth episode of By Your Life. I’m Lisa Huetteman and I know that you have a hundred different things you could be doing right now, so I thank you for choosing By Your Life.
My goal is to inspire, empower, support, challenge, and encourage you to connect Sunday, with Monday-Friday, in a secular, business world. It’s my desire to help you live our Catholic faith in the marketplace. I hope to offer you practical ways to go forth and glorify the Lord by your life.
In this edition, we’ll reflect on the readings for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time. (Year A) This week, the US Senate began an impeachment hearing for the third time in US history, and the second time in 21 years. There is little that is more indicative of how divided we have become as a country than these proceedings and all the political pontificating coming from both sides of the aisle. The fact that we even have “sides of the aisle” is telling in and of itself.
But this is nothing new. When you listen to the words of St. Paul from this Sunday’s second reading, we see that rivalry and division is a part of our human condition. He wrote to the Corinthians, “I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose. For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers, by Chloe’s people, that there are rivalries among you.” (1 Cor 1:10-11) St. Paul urged the early Christians to stop creating factions and aligning themselves with their favorite preacher, the disciple who converted them, or the Apostle who baptized them. And just as there should be no such distinctions among Christians, neither should Americans find a greater allegiance to their political party than they do to the United States. But, to our demise, we do. We are not “united in the same mind and in the same purpose” (1 Cor 1:10), as St. Paul wrote. We seek personal gain instead of that which furthers a common purpose.
This division happens when my personal goals and interests are not the same as yours. This happens all the time in companies. Departments fight for budget dollars to fund their needs and special projects instead of those of others. Teams compete for people, conference rooms, office space, and other resources. There are turf wars between salespeople, different divisions of law enforcement and government agencies. All of this happens because of a belief that I’m more important than you, my interests are greater than yours, I’m right so you must be wrong, or I’m just better than you. In short, it comes from a “my”opic view of the world.
Myopia, or nearsightedness, is a vision condition in which people can see close objects clearly, but objects farther away appear blurred. Myopic thinking is when you lack discernment or a long-range perspective in planning. Nearsightedness in life, causes us to see things only as they appear at the moment and prevents us from seeking the bigger picture or putting things in context. We are all too quick to react to what we read or hear, and then social media facilitates spreading our thoughtless comments. But a “my”opic view of the world is when I can only clearly see “my” perspective and those of others are blurred. My self-interest dominates my thoughts and behaviors and intentionally or not, it will always lead to conflict.
Myopia is a vision condition in which people see close objects clearly, but objects farther away are blurred. My-opia is a personal limitation in which I can see my perspective clearly and those of others are blurred.Unfortunately, this type of conflict is all too common.
The solution, St. Paul tells us, is to “be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.” (1 Cor 1:10). Last week, in episode 095 of By Your Life, we talked about gaining clarity of your purpose as an individual. It is just as important for business leaders and everyone working there to be clear about and committed to their organization’s purpose—why the business exists. (Hint, the answer is not to make money for me and my shareholders.)
Sometimes in business, the terms purpose, mission, vision, and goals get confused. Some people think that vision, mission, purpose are all the same thing and use the terms interchangeably. In the confusion, they fail to gain clarity for themselves and those they lead. Without a clear purpose, unity is impossible and conflict rules.
To make conflict constructive instead of destructive, any group of people needs to ask themselves, “Why does this group exist?” and, “What are we trying to accomplish?” and “What is our common purpose?” Then, with the same mind and purpose, they can step back and with a broader perspective assess and discuss the different options or resolve issues that are driving conflict.
Unfortunately, personalities can get in the way of productive conflict resolution with dominant types driving their solution and accommodating types quietly acquiescing even if they disagree, thus avoiding confrontation. While being accommodating may seem like a gracious thing to do, it is not “in the same mind and in the same purpose.” It just buries conflict and postpones dealing with issues. Knowing this, I encourage groups to agree to rules of engagement that include “If you agree with something, be quiet. If you disagree, speak up.” so dominant types don’t dominate and accommodating types don’t bury their creative ideas or positive solutions by not speaking up.
Both dominators and accommodators exhibit “my”opia by serving their self-interest instead of serving the common purpose. Curing “my”opia requires humility, and the prescription for an increase in humility is praying the Litany of Humility by Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930), the Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X.
If you’re a dominant type, pray: PLEASE USE FORMATTING TO INDENT THESE SECTIONS
From the desire of being preferred to others…Deliver me, Jesus.
That others may be chosen and I set aside…Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed…Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything…Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
And if you’re an accommodating type, pray:
From the fear of being humiliated…Deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of being despised…Deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of suffering rebukes…Deliver me, Jesus
From the fear of being ridiculed…Deliver me, Jesus
Then together, humbly, dominators and accommodators can join forces to find their team’s on-purpose solution. Instead of different departments competing with one another, the focus will be on completing each other to achieve the shared purpose. The competition is out there, so stop pointing your arrows inward toward each other.
The competition is out there, so stop pointing your arrows inward toward each other.One last, but important point, is that the cure for “my”opia, in all its forms, is Jesus Christ. In our first reading, the Prophet Isaiah prophesied that upon the divided nation of Israel, in the land of darkness, a light will shine. (Is 9:1) We, like Israel, are divided when our priorities are clouded by the affairs of this corrupt, passing world. You and I walk in darkness and are spiritually blind when “my”opia keeps us focused on my needs, my problems, my goals, my priorities. When we are distracted from Christ and his purpose for us, we become internally divided. Like the first disciples who dropped everything, abandoned their work, their families, and their former way of life, and “immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.”(Mt 4:22), we too are called to follow him. He is the only cure for our spiritual blindness. Follow him first, and everything else will fall into its proper place.
A company divided against itself cannot attract and retain happy, loyal customers. A nation divided against itself cannot be a light to the world. An individual chasing the things of this world cannot follow Christ. Let’s pray for our businesses. Let’s pray for our country. Let’s pray for ourselves, that we may no longer be divided, but united in Christ.
Heavenly Father look upon your people with mercy, for we are divided in so many ways. With faith, we ask you for the divine gift of unity. Give us love and courage to overcome disunity, whether it is friction in our families, tensions in our neighborhood, disagreements at work, in our parish, and in our country. Heal us from our own spiritual blindness so that we may be a light to the world and in all we do glorify you by our lives. We ask these things through Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
May God bless you abundantly this week as you glorify the Lord by your life.
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