Love does nothing wrong

Love does nothing wrong, that's all we're going to cover today, okay? So, this is already a lot for one day, I think, right? So love does nothing wrong. In English, does anyone know it in English? love is not rude, that word "rude" in English I don't know how to translate it into Spanish, not inappropriate. There are many translations and I searched, I did a study of words in Spanish; does not behave unseemly, love does not behave rudely. It is not: rude, harsh, offensive, uncivil, uneducated, incorrect, unpolitical, inconvenient, indecent, insolent, impertinent, irreverent. Is that enough? I found a little more.

Nor is it: nasty, shameless, inattentive, impolite, inconsiderate, cheeky. Love is not rude, rude, foul-mouthed, or poorly taught. It is not rough, rude, brusque, gross, Basque, crude, I don't even know what half of those things mean. Anyway.

Love does not behave like a jerk, I learned that word. Beneath all of that is the concept of respect. Love doesn't disrespect anyone, right? He is friendly, educated, attentive, educated, civilized, fine, delicate, elegant, restrained. Love is courteous.

Now before going any further, it must be emphasized that although love is courteous, not all courtesy is love. One can be very nice to oneself, very civilized, very cultured for the wrong reasons, right? Maybe as I preached a few months ago that love is benign, sometimes people are very courteous for you to buy them something, right? for you to buy what they are selling. Perhaps courtesy has a personal interest, it wants to look good with one. He wants to charm you, he wants to conquer you, be careful. Courtesy can be a cultural duty, nothing more, right? there are many who are courteous because courtesy: my mother taught me well and in my country we are educated, but perhaps there is no love, right?

Someone can be super polite and hate the person right? this happens a lot. hints. Perhaps with all the smiles in the world he is there putting a knife, a weed from behind, stabbing you on the back, very kind but behind there are other intentions. So we are not talking about just superficial courtesy, we are talking about courtesy that comes from the heart, a courtesy based on respect for the human being in front of me, recognizing that each person I see has a value that I cannot even estimate. . This human being is made in the image and likeness of God, he carries within himself the mark of the divine, no matter how he dresses, no matter how he looks, no matter how he talks, no matter how intelligent or how unintelligent he is.

It doesn't matter what you have done because the enemy has deranged every human being. Everyone carries the image of God inside and for this reason they are worthy of being treated with honor and respect. People are not objects, they are precious.

In the Bible this word for doing nothing wrong, in the Greek it is not a very common word, it is only used once more in the New Testament. It is used in the text when the apostle Paul in this same Book, First Corinthians, is talking about single people, and says that if someone thinks that he is misbehaving with the young woman, his girlfriend, with whom he is not married, and is behaving in an improper way, that he should marry her. Another translation is the father who is behaving improperly, not allowing him to get married, right? Whatever it is, it has the idea of not crossing limits, of not invading the person's space and thus lowering it and disrespecting it. God calls us to love with actions and in truth and not to do anything wrong.

In Spanish I have heard the phrase: "te pasaste." I don't understand perfectly well but I think it has to do with this idea of passing limits, and so on. Too much trust, inappropriate trust maybe with a person right? you are going to teach me on this day. Now, before we go any further: we're not talking about a courtesy that's so tight and forced that we can't be loose and relaxed together, that we can never crack a joke because we all have to be very careful, right?

I remember, before I preached this in English, I was at a funeral and before the funeral there were many police officers there who were friends of someone at the funeral, they were state trooper police officers and they were non-Christian police officers, let's say they were very non-Christian police officers. Those policemen were speaking with very interesting words, right? Jokes well to the sun of the earth, I don't know how to say it; not so heavy, perhaps the word is: mischief, anyway. They were talking in ways that my friend looked at me, because they didn't know that I was the Pastor that I was going to, and even knowing it, maybe they would have done it, right? but my friend looking at me like: oh oh, Gregory, what's up? thinking that he was going to offend me or something, right? What a scandal! No.

I think we shouldn't be like that. We can be relaxed and we don't have to be so worried about doing something wrong that I don't live. I hope that with your trusted friends that you can be loose and relaxed, sometimes where there is too much courtesy is an environment where there is no trust, right? In the Bible, Jesus talks about the friend who comes knocking at the door at night looking for something to eat. He says: look, midnight, I need bread, I have visitors. The other says: look, I'm in bed, leave me alone, and continues to bother. Because of his inopportuneness, his neighbor gave him everything he wanted. I hope you have so that they can take liberties with you, that there is trust, that we can be loose and relaxed.

The idea is that we don't have to live in fear of not offending anyone, right? It says that love doesn't do anything wrong, it's not fear that doesn't do anything wrong, right? The differences, to walk on, as they say, to walk on egg shells, we don't always have to walk on tiptoe carefully, we are going to be relaxed but with love, honor the person in front of me with the appropriate attention. Love does nothing wrong.

So why do we do wrong things? everyone here has done it, as nice as we seem, we have all failed. If you drive on the streets of Boston you know very well what it's like to disrespect someone or to be the victim of someone who disrespects you, who cuts you, and I want to use this as a base for us. Why do they do it? Why is it that a person cuts another on a street and disrespects him? And I think there are four reasons that I want to talk about, and we are going to apply this to other contexts in life.

First: they cut off traffic and behave in inappropriate ways, many times in ways that they wouldn't do to you in person because they forget that there is a person in the car, right? Sometimes there is rough treatment with someone in a car because it is impersonal, dehumanized. It seems not a person but a vehicle, nothing more, and by forgetting that it is a person in a car one cuts it off.

I think it looks like the man who was healed of blindness, right? Do you remember this miracle? Jesus heals him and he opens his eyes but he does not see people, he only sees trees walking, he says: I see something but they seem like trees walking. Many of us do not see people but as if they were trees walking, we do not see the person but an object.

I have heard that many times, on the computer there is a whole movement of what is called cyber-bullying, right? When young people do bad things to other young people on Facebook or on the computer, why do they do such ugly, rude things in this medium that perhaps they wouldn't do in person? because it is more impersonal. The person is lowered and so sometimes, the person is lowered, and so things are done without thinking about the effect it is having.

And so it is in all of human history. Before abusing people, it's about dehumanizing them, I don't know if that's the right word. It is about taking away the human dignity of a person in order to treat them in improper ways. It was done here in this country in the 19th century when they wanted to enslave African people, what did they do? they put in this country, the United States, they put in the Constitution that a dark-skinned person is worth what was it? two thirds of a human being. Can you believe that? It was not in the Constitution, it was a law. In black and white they put that they are less than human.

And this perspective of looking down on a person allows all kinds of improper treatment, and this is taking away the dignity of the person, putting labels. That's why we have to be so careful with the words we use with other people.

I still sometimes hear ways of referring to people who live on the street, who don't have a home, and call them with certain derogatory names. Love does not do anything improper, that is to lower the human dignity of a person. It is that as Christians we believe that there is no zero to the left, I like this saying, a zero to the left. It's bad enough to be a zero but a zero on the left, right? A zero to the left.

For Christians it does not exist. Each person is worth, each person is precious because they are made in the image and likeness of God and what the person represents must be respected. It is so with officials in society. We teach that rulers must be respected, even those who are half scoundrels because of the office they fill; This does not mean that we have to continue voting for them and allow them to do whatever they want, but we must respect them, because they fill an office and represent something. It is so with every human being.

Maybe the person, his behavior, his life is not worthy of honor, but his identity as a human being makes him worthy of honor and respect and courtesy. It is that each one has status.

We know that in the ten commandments there is one of them that says that we must honor our father and our mother, amen? children, youth, adults, honor our mother, honor our father. The Hebrew word for honor is the same word used to refer to Jehovah's shekinah glory. It is the word: kabob, which is a word that indicates: something heavy, something worthy of respect. With this person, you have to take this person seriously because he is a human being, worthy of honor and respect.

Many times with poor and needy people society looks at them as low, as less than human. I ask you to go with me to the Book of Santiago, Book of Santiago please. James chapter 2 verse 1 says the following: "My brothers, let your faith in your glorious Lord Jesus Christ be without respect of persons; for if a man with a gold ring and splendid clothing enters your congregation, and a poor man with a dress also enters and you look with pleasure at the one who wears the splendid clothes, and you say to him: sit here in a good place, and you say to the poor: you stand there or sit here under my dais, do you not make distinctions among yourselves and come to be judges with evil thoughts? My beloved brothers: listen, has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?" and go ahead with it. I want us to think here how we treat the people who come here from the streets, because more and more are coming every day.

I want to tell you a story of a large Church and this is a true story that happened, a large Church, I don't remember the state, but it had a Pastor who came in disguise his first day, nobody knew him. And he came bearded, with clothes that stinked, and he came like this smelly, and he interacted with various people; with the brothers, with the ushers, with various people. He didn't do ugly things but he was like that, right?

And then came the worship of the Church to present the new Pastor in a Church of thousands of people. And the main deacon says: now, brothers, it is my pleasure to introduce our new Pastor, and this man dressed as from the street, who was coming in front, came from behind, stood there and says: hello, nice to meet you. Jesus comes in disguise brothers, Jesus comes in disguise.

We must treat each one as if it were a visit of honor, as we would treat the governor himself if he were here among us, as we would treat a loved one with attention and delicacy because he has value and love does nothing wrong.

I love how Jesus did this don't you? because He told His disciples that they had the wrong idea, that because they were close to Jesus, because they were leaders, that it gave them license to treat others as lower than them, because they were in leadership, to be like that. And one day, you know, I wanted to be by His side on the Throne, Jesus says: Look, the Gentiles, those who are considered great, by rulers, lord it over those who are under them, but not so with you. Between you, if someone wants to be great, let him be the smallest of all, let him be the servant of all, because that is spiritual greatness. And love does nothing wrong.

Right after this conversation Jesus is walking and there is a man in the street who is crying out: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! do you remember the story? What do the disciples do? shut up, don't bother! Jesus does not do this. He stands up and comes, and He doesn't start preaching. He asks her a question: how can I help you? Perhaps it was with an attitude: sir, what can I do for you? and gave the man a voice, allowed the man to tell him what he needed.

It is that many times we misbehave for ministering, we are a little abrupt. Look, I tell you what you need: you need Jesus, you need healing, you, you, you and we are abrupt. Jesus was not like that. Jesus said: Tell me, how can I help you? the brother says: Lord, I want to see. And Jesus, not like I'm up here and you're down here, and now I'm going to fix you, Jesus says: "Your faith has made you well." Your faith has healed you. That man began to follow Jesus later because Jesus treated him with respect, with love that honored and dignified him. May we be such a Church.

Where someone can enter here, whoever, whatever and who knows: this is my home and here I am going to receive respect, I am not going to be branded, I am not going to be rejected, I am not going to be ignored, I am going to receive dignity and appreciation here. Brothers, may we be ambassadors of peace.

Remember that there is a person in the car that there is something precious inside every human being. Number one, we're going to have that attitude. The Word says: "He who oppresses the poor insults his maker" and we want to honor the Creator of each person and live like this here, amen? Thank God.

Ready? seriously, because brother, here we are going to say amen and next week someone is going to sit next to it, and you are going to feel: ah, maybe I'll move over there. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with having a healthy cunning and still being vigilant in the Church, right? you always have to be careful anywhere, but the Lord is going to test you. You say: I'm going to love whoever and the Lord: Ok, I'm going to send you someone. God is going to take you seriously, isn't he?

Numbers two. Number one: sometimes we cut off the car because we forget that a person is in the other car. Number two: many times in traffic we cut off another car, not out of malice but because we were clueless, right? because we don't see it. Have you ever done it? you're driving and you realize, someone puts the whistle on you and you realize, oh I almost cut that person off. I want to invent a whistle that has words, right? to say: oh please forgive me, it wasn't on purpose, I didn't see you, God bless you, please don't look at the Christian bumper in the back, Christians aren't that bad. Many dicks would say other things, but love does nothing wrong, amen? for clueless.

The thing is that many times we lack courtesies to others not wanting to do it but because we don't realize it. When I was new here I used to make nonsense in Spanish, but ugly nonsense, right? the way of speaking, dealing with people, many things, but love covers a multitude of sins, thank God. Because without meaning to we are like that, children are like that, right? You have to teach them because they don't know. Look him in the eye, say hello, say: thank you, because you are teaching them, right?

There are adults who are clueless and inadvertently offend many times, we must recognize that. Why do we do it? We're going back to the street, right? think about driving Why do you cut another car without seeing it? Because you didn't look carefully, you were in a hurry. You didn't want to disrespect the other car but you were in a hurry and so you didn't realize it. Many times you disrespected people because we are too rushed in life. We are running fast and what do we do? we hit a person without thinking about it.

You have to slow down sometimes, I don't know how to say in Spanish, slowly, slow down a little in life. Lower worries, look around and recognize that you are surrounded by people. Jesus did, right?

There is a story about Jesus who was called to heal a twelve year old girl. Do you remember the story? Jesus is there running because the girl is sick, she is going to die, and the apostles there, he says that they were all pushing and shoving and pushing, they were like in a store on Black Friday or whatever, everyone was pushing: I have to get there, there's a girl, make room.

The woman with the issue of blood touches Jesus, is healed and hides. Jesus stops, He says: I know it's important but I'm not going to be so hasty that I don't take time to show courtesy and respect, who touched me? and He finds the woman, and gives her a name, says, "Daughter, your faith has made you well." Again, he does not see her as impure because of her condition, he says: Daughter, your faith has healed you. You have to take time to recognize that there are people around you and you have to treat them with respect.

Many times, and that is another problem, we disrespect others because we live in our own world. Are there some who are in your world, some who have children who are in your world? maybe we wear headphones, I like it a lot but then you don't realize that there are people around and one can not pay attention to the people around.

There is a phrase that refers to teachers who are so intelligent that they are in the clouds and then they neglect the people around them, right? "the absent-minded professor" we are all like that from time to time without thinking about what is around.

Another reason why we unknowingly make mistakes is because of cultural differences. How many countries are there in this Church, right? how many countries are represented here. I know that I talk about it a lot because in the service in English, the sancocho became even more complicated, right? It is being kicked out not only from all of Latin America, people are being kicked out from Europe, from Africa, from Asia, gringos of all shapes and sizes, people from the countryside, from the Midwest, from Los Angeles, from New York. What is cultured in New York or Dorchester maybe not so cultured in Tokyo, Japan right? What is cultured in Bogotá, maybe it is not cultured, it is not Aguadía, Puerto Rico, right?

Some when they were new here, if you are a newcomer from your country, you are going to feel that everyone is very rude, that nobody is very courteous because the rules of the game are different now, right? Looks into the eyes as the person is referred to.

There are cultures in which looking into the eyes of the person is something uneducated, some are from cultures like that. If the child looks into your eyes it is irreverent; don't look me in the eye And in North American culture, if you don't look into the eyes, this is an indication that you are not paying attention, right? So the poor child at school, the teacher: look me in the eye, and at home: don't look me in the eye. The poor boy, is that the rules are different.

In Japan, Japanese culture, I know a chin chin, a little bit of that, I'm learning, looking into the eyes, especially one doesn't do a man to a woman, and some, I had some very dear friends in my studies who were from Japan , and they were told: you have to look people in the eye in this country. So when you talked to them they made an effort to look you in the eye because they were so rude to them, so rude, but they knew that here it has to be done and they looked me in the eye, suffering. They sent me their seven-year-old girl, a beautiful girl who brought my fellow students some tea biscuits, Japanese biscuits.

She is so cute and I gave the girl a hug. A man hugging a Japanese girl, please don't. It became as sticky as concrete and uncomfortable, and I realized: oh I really screwed up here, are the police going to call me or something, right? because that's not done, but I'm a gringo, I'm not Japanese, I didn't know, right?

I'm going to talk about my own wickedness, right? My culture, North Americans of European descent often don't understand Hispanic dynamics, right? and behave incorrectly. On the phone I don't know if you've spoken to someone, I don't want to speak contemptuously, but a gringo on the phone, and they tend to be more to the point. Ok, see you there at 5 and bye, bye, click. And it leaves you speechless, all so fast, right? everything so brusque, so dry, there is no conversation or dialogue, because: well, let's go to the date, binga barabum, hang up and I'll go to the next one, I have a list to fill out, and this is the North American style. They don't want to be rude, it's their way.

A party, I made this mistake. When you arrive at a party from what I observed, among Latino people, you greet everyone, not only the host but everyone at the party, right? you greet each one, good education. And then when it's time to leave you say goodbye to each one individually. Do you know what a gringo does? He arrives, greets the host, hangs out with some friends and when it's time to leave: well, bye to the host and he leaves, but you didn't say goodbye. What did I do to you, why are you mad at me Gregory? It's that good, with a gringo everything is a little faster, right? why stop, why take so long? you know, already bye, I'm leaving.

The thing is that in this environment of our Church we have to have love that forgives offenses, giving the benefit of the doubt. It's that we get offended very easily, he didn't greet me, I'll kill him! No? I hate it, my honor! maybe the person was busy, worried or didn't see you and maybe he's a gringo who doesn't know how to greet in a certain way, right? let's say he's a gringo and doesn't know; It's not little education, it's different education sometimes. It is that what is expected to be appropriate may be different but love covers a multitude of sins. Amen, amen, you can.

We are not going to be offended, we are going to give the benefit of the doubt, just breathe and not be so strict with courtesy. But on the other hand I have to learn: if something I do is offensive I have to adjust myself to be in the context. In a multicultural Church we have to learn how to conduct ourselves in a way that expresses love for others in ways they can understand. We do not have the right to do what we want, which brings me to the third reason why we are disrespectful on the street.

Some cut others in the street because they think they own the street, right? is that they have a disease called: egoitis. I, my right, forget about them: I have the right to do what I want, it's America, I can express myself, I can, what does it matter; If they don't like it, it's their problem, that's me, I'm not going to change. That's not love. Love does nothing wrong. Love thinks of others.

And there are many excuses, right? there are many excuses. There are some in the time of the apostle Paul who used the excuse of the anointing. They said: I am anointed and I have the right to speak in tongues when I feel like it and if you don't like it, don't turn off the Holy Spirit, because I'm going to do it and blab blah blah, they thought of them and not in the community right?

Now, I want to take a moment: the gift of tongues for those who do not know, is a very beautiful gift, it is a gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps a person to pray in a language that they don't even understand, but their spirit is praying, amen? I want us to do it a lot more, let's pray about it here. But in Corinthians they used that gift in an unwise way, in an improper way. And the apostle Paul says: if a visitor comes to your Church and hears everyone shouting in tongues to each other, he's going to think you're crazy. He used these words: be out of it. So we have to think about not only my anointing and my experience but also: how am I affecting others. You have to take into account the people who are around you and the anointing is no excuse.

In Corinthians there was another very great lack of delicacy. Some have heard the phrase that we should not take the Lord's Supper improperly, have some heard that? because if we do, the apostle Paul teaches that if someone takes the Supper in an improper way, he is sinning against the Body of Christ himself, and that is why some he says: some of you are sick or have fallen asleep, that you have died, and because of this we get scared and say: well, I want to take the sacrament properly.

In the context, the sin during the Lord's Supper was, they disrespecting poor people around. It is that for them the Holy Supper was a real dinner, right? everyone brought their rice with beans and their pupusas, and everyone, and they ate a lot, and it was a great party. And what they did, they would sit with their family, their friends, and eat a lot until they got drunk, and a poor person sitting there alone, there feeling rejected with nothing to eat, they would ignore the needy person and they would focus on themselves. I think they did it for clueless perhaps. They were thinking of their friends and had no eyes to look around.

Brother: I hope that when you come to Church, you come looking for, well, well said: looking for someone to devour in a good way, right? looking for someone to minister to, that I am here not to receive but to give and God is going to teach me someone. I am going to see someone who is alone or who is suffering and I am going to reach out and minister to that person; properly okay? nothing unusual, but properly, and thus I will not neglect the person. There are no zeros to either left here. Let's do that.

But they felt entitled. I have the right to express myself however I want. There was another case for the Corinthians, they are still with me right? this is a lot. The Corinthians had another situation that had to do with meat. It is that in his environment meat was bought from a store that was associated with pagan temples. They killed the animals offered to idols, to demons and then they took the meat and put the meat on sale in stores, butcher shops, and people went and bought the meat. Do you see how difficult this can be for a Christian? I do not want to eat meat that was offered to a demon, and some were scandalized: I cannot eat this.

The apostle Paul had another perspective, he says: I'm hungry and I want a good chop, and I didn't offer it to a demon, I'm just going to buy it, thank God and eat. He said: the land belongs to the Lord, that cow belongs to God, I don't care what the others did with it, and I'm going to eat it. But he says: if I eat meat in front of someone who is going to be shocked, that is a lack of respect for them, this is not love, it is something improper. But Pablo is free, you can eat whatever you want, right? he says: yes, I am free, but I am not going to use my freedom to do what I want without thinking about how I am affecting others. This is why you do have the right to express yourself, and you have to be yourself, right? we can not.

You know, there is a saying in English: I gotta be me. I'm always going to be a confused gringo like I am, I'm never going to be Latino, right? Well, I'm not going to change myself in that sense, but I don't have the right to say that: well, I'm a gringo and that's how we do things like that, and the others are going to have to put up with me. No, love does nothing wrong. We have to think about how my manner is affecting others, how my dress is affecting others. Like my sense of humor, like my words, my acting, my way of living must be thinking about how to honor the person around me. This is not being tight, that is loving and knowing that there are important people around me.

One more thing for those who have egoitis. Some who believe they have the right to speak the truth no matter how it falls, don't you know someone like that? I speak the truth and I'm going to tell you what I think, and it's your problem if you don't like it, right? maybe some of us are like that. The Bible says: speak the truth in love, in love. But one can think. He says that even when preaching sometimes people in the world are offended with us not because of what we believe but how we believe it, right? No wonder Peter says that: "We must present a defense with meekness and reverence above all" speak the truth with love.

But if you read in the New Testament, Jesus sometimes spoke loudly, right? I found this, Jesus speaking to the Pharisees said, "Serpents." How can you say that in a cultured and polite way? "You generation of vipers, how will you escape the damnation of hell?" Well, was Jesus disrespectful, was he rude? Sometimes you have to yell at a person to save their life, right?

If someone is going to touch a stove that is on and they don't know it, they are about to do "oh sorry please don't touch it because maybe if you would be so kind as please" and tss! until it burns. Love sometimes has to scream, right? and the Pharisees were so blind they deserved a good scream to wake them up for love, tough love and sometimes the truth hurts, and there's no way to change that.

So maybe some of us are going to think: well I want to be like Jesus, you breed of vipers! I have news for you and me: you are not Jesus, nor are you Jeremiah or Isaiah, or Elijah, the prophet of the Bible. They could do it, you and I usually can't do it, okay? You have to speak the truth with love.

Finally, and I'm ending with that, some cut traffic for being bad. Are bad. No, rather, we are all bad from time to time, excuse me, I don't want to take too much confidence or offend anyone, but we are bad, you breed of vipers! (laughs) no, it's just. Some driving in Boston think: I have to drive aggressive or they eat me alive, and to survive I have to be mean, rude on the street, to survive, some think that. Some think so.

Many times rudeness or rudeness comes from human insecurity. We are afraid that they are going to hurt me and I have to hurt them before they do it to me. Some have suffered and think that the only way to survive is to be rude to others so they don't put you down first. Bullying at school or in society, many bullies, many of those who abuse others are rude people, they have to prove that I am him, they are insecure. In society, social abuse almost always comes from social insecurity, right? treat badly a group or people of a color, or a nationality, why? because there are other groups that want to feel big. If I can put you down, I sit up here, and that's how improper things are done. In racist movements throughout history one sees that.

I already spoke of the United States in the 19th century. Sometimes some poor white people wanted to make black slaves feel lower so they could feel bigger and here comes institutions of racism, and they did it. But we all do if we're honest. When we are afraid we fight and disrespect the other person.

Sometimes we don't know how to express anger and have a fair and healthy discussion. In English we would put it this way. Learning how to have a fair fight. Knowing how to have a discussion without saying derogatory words from which you can't go back later, right?

In Discipleship 3 there are two pages: Rules or guidelines for a healthy discussion. I encourage everyone to study that because in marriage and at home we sometimes take liberties, but later we can't go back because we have lowered a person. You have to know how to express yourself and still be angry, and have a good discussion without putting a person down, without embarrassing a person. Why? because love does nothing wrong.

We know the story and I am going to invite the musicians to be passing, in Discipleship, do you remember the story of the children in the camp? forgive me for using this again but i like it so much. They take the children out to the field in an activity and all the children are given a tube of toothpaste, is it called toothpaste? toothpaste, I don't even know what grass is, oh grass, oh my gosh, look how inappropriate. Toothpaste and they tell the children: you can squeeze that toothpaste into your other hand and the happy children of life make a whole mess with the paste in their hand, and this is the game: now you have to return the paste to the little tubes, and everyone there trying, and they are taught: our words are like that. Once out, it's difficult to put them back inside the tube, right? that is why we have to learn that love does not do anything improper, love respects, is courteous.

And I encourage you this week to take time to slow down a bit in life, have eyes to see the people around you, especially in your own home; small courtesies at home, between spouses, with children, with co-workers, courtesy and thinking about how I can love them because Jesus says: Your light will shine in the darkness, your way of being will preach the Gospel. If we believe in Christ and are rude without knowing or caring, we are doing more harm than good and people cannot receive our Word. But if there is a whole life that goes behind the preaching, it is powerful, and environments, and lives, and societies are changed.

And if you have learned to fight and be strong with others to protect yourself, I encourage you to let God take care of you, may God fight your battles and you can show grace even in the midst of conflictive situations. So let's stand up, let's pray, give this over to the Lord.

My God: I thank you for your love. Thank you Jesus that You have given us a model of what it is to treat every person with respect and dignity. I ask you in the Name of Jesus, Lord, that respect and love reign in this Church. May our houses be homes of light, environments of peace where there are words of love, words of life, and not words of death. I ask you to give us the grace that the prophet Daniel had in Babylon, that even in workplaces with bosses and difficult co-workers, that we can speak with clarity and courtesy in a way that wins souls for the Gospel.

More than anything, I ask you, Lord, for an environment of respect where all those who come here with any limitation, any problem, any burden they have, come here and know that here I am somebody, here I am not a zero. Here I am a person worthy of love and respect. May every human being feel this in this place, my God, and may we be ambassadors of the Kingdom of God, we ask you Lord, all this help us in the Name of Jesus.