I can visualize the opening scene of today’s Gospel in my mind’s eye. Jesus striding along with a gathering of people walking, talking, and moving about, and then he just stops and turns. Those closest to Jesus pull up to a stop with him, others continue right past, while at the same time others bump into and trip over those who had stopped before them. The subtle hum of random conversation then slowly comes to a halt, a stillness ripples through the crowd, and then there is silence. The dust begins to settle. Those closest have their eyes locked on his, while those further back are craning their necks, moving left and right to get a better look, others are cupping their ears to catch the sound of Jesus’ voice.

These crowds most likely consisted of some disciples, while the greater majority were those on the periphery gathering because of curiosity, intrigue, and maybe even wonder. Jesus then begins to speak, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife or children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” and then finishes with  “In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple” (cf. Lk 14:25-33).

Those who may be hearing these words second hand, as they were further away from the point of direct hearing, may not believe that the message was transmitted to them correctly. These words cut to the quick, just as surely as when Jesus shared about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, and when he told another follower, who wanted to bury his father to let the dead bury their dead. Luke does not say, but I am sure that many of those gathered around him were just as shocked and began to walk away.

The familial bond for ancient peoples was strong. Though the invitation of salvation that Jesus offers is for all to be saved, he is not going to dumb down or sugar coat his message just to get numbers. Jesus presents, time and again, that the way to live a life of fullness and wholeness, to restore that which has been lost, is to put God first in our lives. God must be the primary focus, the primary relationship in our life, nothing else can have priority of place before him. When we do so, all other things will fall into their proper place.

We need to ask ourselves if we want to be an onlooker, just someone looking at Jesus from a distance, or a disciple, willing to be his servant sent forth to share the Gospel and invite others into relationship with him? Are we attached to any possessions, false substitutes, even members of our family, such that we place them before our relationship with God? Idols are anything that we put before God and will distract us from the very flow of his life force that fuels our existence. If we are willing to walk the path of discipleship, we must be willing to surrender our will to God, place him first in our lives, and be open to being transformed by his love.

Jesus is to be the interpretive key that opens our understanding to all else. All that which is material and finite in our lives find meaning in relation to him. Only when we are able to let go of the attachments to the things of this world will we then truly begin to be free, to be other-centered, to be more patient, understanding, and willing to love and be more present to our father and mother, wife or children, brother and sister, and even our very self and our neighbor.

Photo: In the chapel at St Ignatius Cathedral, just prior to my ordination Mass, September 2013. To my left, long-time friend Fr. Ed O’Brien, a true disciple!

Photo Credit: Deacon Michael Miller

Link for the Mass readings Wednesday, November 4, 2020

One of those at table with Jesus said to him, “Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God.” He replied to him, “A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, ‘Come, everything is now ready'” (Lk 14:15-17)

In the midst of increasing violence, polarization, shouting over one another, delegitimizing, and dehumanizing one another, some react by sinking into cynicism, indifference, apathy, or worse, despair and hopelessness, while others dig in deeper and strike back with harsh words, rhetoric, or more violence. These reactions were present in Jesus’ time as well, yet Jesus offers an alternative response to deal with division and hatred.

Judaism was far from unified. The Sadducees, Pharisees and scribes, Samaritans, Zealots, and Essenes all felt they were the authentic expression of Israel. Jesus not only addressed this division by sitting down to break bread with as diverse a population as possible but he also shared parables around the same idea of the invitation to share in the celebration of a feast, as we read today.

Each encounter that we are blessed to partake in is an invitation to experience communion. We have the opportunity to interact in person, face to face, or through the myriad of social media outlets. With each opportunity, we can choose to demean, degrade, dehumanize, gossip, or defame or we can embrace the opportunity to treat each other with dignity, respect, kindness, and understanding, yes, even when we disagree.

We all have wounds. Each of us have suffered or are suffering, and we have or are experiencing pain in some form or fashion. We all seek to belong, to be a part of, and to be accepted. We need each other. When we acknowledge this reality we can begin to heal and be more understanding toward others. Yet, as Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ, writes, “If you’re a stranger to your own wound, then you’re going to be tempted to despise the wounded.”

Jesus provides a mirror for us to notice our own suffering and path to healing. When we are willing to have eyes to see our own wounds and are open to healing, we will better be able to be present for our brothers and sisters. When others act in any way that is less than kind, we can choose to be patient. When someone is short with us, we can resist the defensive response and instead ask if there is any way we can help. When someone is talking over us, we can take some deep breaths and listen. Today the votes will be cast, it may take some days to count the vote. No matter the result, we need to be willing to be a conduit love, willing the good of each other and a healing presence in our interactions with one another. Jesus invites us to the feast of community, are we willing to attend?

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Photo: Conduits of willing each other’s good.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, November 3, 2020

“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day” (Jn 6:40).

This is our hope and what we believe, that we who encounter Jesus and believe in him shall have eternal life. God’s will, what he created us for, is to be in communion with him and one another in this life and the next. A word of assurance that I often lean on is from the book of Wisdom from our first reading today, “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us utter destruction. But they are in peace” (Wisdom 3:1-3).

The miracle of Jesus raising the daughter of the Roman official, Jairus, embodies these verses from Wisdom. As Jesus entered the home of the official many were “making a commotion” and Jesus dismissed them stating: “Go away! the girl is not dead but sleeping.” He was ridiculed by the crowd but paid them no heed. He went to the girl, took her hand, “and the little girl arose” (cf. Mt 9:18-26).

Jesus assured his followers as he assures us today that the will of his Father is that all will be saved. Experiences like the raising of the Jairus’ daughter, the son of the widow from Nain, and Lazarus, were not only seeds of hope planting the promise of his resurrection to come but a foretaste of the raising of humanity on the last day. His disciples witnessed Jesus’ actions and words, and not only kept these experiences in their hearts but shared them. Through the Gospels we are able to enter into and experience these same encounters with Jesus again and again. We also experience Jesus each time we pray, participate in communal worship, and are willing to serve one another. In each of these moments of encounter, we are conformed and shaped into who we have been created and called by God to be in this life and the next.

This All Souls Day we celebrate the gift that Jesus was victorious over sin and death, not only for himself but for all of us. Let us lift up those we hold close to our heart, as well as those aborted and miscarried, those immigrants who have died seeking a better life, those who have died from COVID, those who have suffered tragic, unjust, violent deaths, and those who have died alone.

“Merciful Father, hear our prayers and console us. As we renew our faith in your Son, whom you raised from the dead, strengthen our hope that all our departed brothers and sisters will share in his resurrection, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever” (Prayer for All Souls, Liturgy of the Hours).

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Photo: Remembering JoAnn, my heart and my love this All Souls Day. Picture from her birthday 2015.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, November 2, 2020

“Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Mt 5:4).

Just in the past three days, 68 people have died from gun violence in our country (gunviolencearchive.org), yet this statistic has been eclipsed by the daily death toll from those contracting COVID. The numbers of which are hard to assess, though most likely in the hundreds. Another word for blessed is happy. How are we to feel blessed, or happy? How do the families and friends of those who have died feel blessed when they learn of the death of a loved one? From a theological reference, one response can be that Jesus shared these words from the perspective of the eschatological event, his second coming at the end of time and that we can rely on the hope that Jesus died for us all and we will rise with him on the last day.

This is our hope and this is true, but I also believe that Jesus was also speaking about our day to day experiences as well. Jesus said, as is recorded in Mark 1:15, “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand.” Jesus, is the kingdom at hand, just an outstretched arm away. Those of us who mourn will be blessed, will find comfort when we resist running away, or denying the agony and pain that threatens to overwhelm us and instead allow ourselves to experience the grief and the suffering of our loss. It is in the very embracing of our pain and suffering that we come to encounter Jesus with his arms wide open.

By experiencing the depth of our sorrow and allowing ourselves to grieve and mourn in the loving embrace of Jesus, we can release this unbearable weight and begin to heal. If we ask God or anyone near us why someone dies we may not receive a sufficient answer. His Son though, who suffered the agony, loss, pain, and hurt as we do, understands what we are feeling. His presence and closeness will be the strength we need to guide us through the many ups and downs, fits and starts, of our emotional roller coaster. Just like having a surgical amputation, our life will never be the same, but we will heal and be able to live again.

Today, we celebrate the gift of the Communion of Saints on this All Saints Day. The saints understood and lived the message and truth of the Gospel that Jesus has risen. They have lived their life to the full and have gone before us to the true land of promise, our heavenly home, and from there they cheer us on, encourage us, and intercede for us.

Jesus suffered and persevered through the cross, then into and conquered death. We need not fear death because through our life in Jesus, death no longer has any power over us. Yes, we mourn the loss of those no longer with us in this reality, yet we also rejoice in their new life in Christ. St Paul of the Cross, taught: “The world lives unmindful of the sufferings of Jesus which are the miracle of miracles of the love of God. We must arouse the world from its slumber.” Let us then not run from but enter into our pain and mourn so that we may experience God’s comfort, peace, healing, and yes, even blessing and happiness.

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The source for the quote is from St Paul of the Cross: https://passionist.org/st-paul-of-the-cross-passionist-founder/

Photo: Entrance to the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, San Francisco

Link for the Mass Readings for Sunday, November 1, 2020

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk 14:11).

With these words, Jesus ends his parable about people jockeying for seats of honor, when in fact it is the prerogative of the host to determine the seating. Jesus also addressed this same issue with the Apostles when James and John requested to sit, one on his right and the other on his left when he would come in his glory (cf. Mark 10:35-45). True humility is submitting ourselves to the will of God and acting as he directs such that he is given the primacy of place, not us.

A memory of mine from third grade sticks with me and that is the feeling one day of someone watching me in the classroom. The feeling was not my classmates or the teacher. I do not believe I was paranoid, nor do I now. What I think the experience was about was me starting to be aware of me from the outside of myself, kind of looking in at myself as I perceived others as seeing me.

Maybe this was the awakening of my ego. I am no psychiatrist, this is all speculation on my part, but I feel as if that memory and today’s Gospel reading has converged. Too often throughout my life I have made decisions seeking others’ approval and just as often, I have chosen my actions regarding perceived opinions, not actual decisions requested of me directly. These perceived opinions were much more subtle in nature, but also could multiply so to be debilitating at times when I sought to make a decision.

What I am coming to realize, is that it is more important to align myself to God’s will for my life. This does not mean that I am turning my back on family, friends, and colleagues, but in point of fact, by coming to a better understanding of God’s will, I am more authentic in my interactions with others instead of operating from a posture of appeasement, which is more disingenuous. In so doing, I am better able to be present to others for their needs and not my own.

What may have been going on with those at dinner seeking the closer seats to the host, what impelled James and John to want to sit at Jesus’ right and left when he came into his glory, was that they were seeking honor, prestige, glory, acceptance to feed their egos, their false senses of self. Jesus is teaching us to instead align our energy and seek God’s will and we will find the fulfillment and joy that we seek. This is the transformation we saw happen in Peter. He protected himself at the cost of denying Jesus three times but forgiven by the mercy of Jesus he gave himself in love to serve him and his Church unto his death.

May we seek freedom from indecision, mental distractions, and temptations that we entertain to protect our own ego. Let us pray instead for a clearer mind, heart, and spirit that can discern clearly the will of God, and the courage and confidence to act upon his leading without hesitation. May we surrender our ego to God, as Mother Teresa is known for saying, to become a simple pencil in God’s hand. Instead of seeking honor, recognition, and praise, let our intention rather be to follow God’s leading and to serve others unconditionally, willing their good. In dying to our ego-self, may we go forward today living for Jesus. In our baptism we have been crucified with Christ, so it is no longer we who live, but Christ in us (cf. Galatians 2:20).

Photo: Easter 2017

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, October 31, 2020

“Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?” But they were unable to answer his question (Lk 14:5-6).

Jesus was again dealing with the issue to heal or not to heal on the Sabbath. Jesus was dining at the home of a leading Pharisee. While there, Jesus noticed a person suffering from dropsy. This English word is derived from the Greek word hydrōpikos which refers to the swelling caused by the retention of fluid, or edema (cf. Johnson, 223). If you have ever experienced swelling of the joints it can be uncomfortable at best and extremely painful or debilitating at worst, especially if one’s livelihood is dependent on hard labor.

Jesus again showed his keen awareness and compassion, yet, why does Jesus keep healing on the Sabbath? He knows it gets under the skin of the Pharisees, why doesn’t he just heal the day before or after the Sabbath? Jesus, in the line of the prophetic tradition, utilized these confrontations regarding Sabbath observance as teachable moments to make a point. Jesus wanted to help the Pharisees and others observing these interactions understand what it meant to know and follow the will of God. Ultimately, what Jesus proposed through his consistent healing on the Sabbath was that the dignity of the person is to be the barometer in guiding whether we are following the will of God or not. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus stated that the Sabbath was made for people, and not people for the Sabbath (cf. Mark 2:27).

Jesus was not questioning the Sabbath, he was boring down on the core issue. The real debate was not about whether to heal or not, but what had been debated often in Jewish circles was how to define work. It was doing work that was to be avoided on the Sabbath. The further inference Jesus was making was that respecting the dignity of the person ought to be the starting point about making any decision, policy, or observed practice.

May we take time to reflect over the course of the past twenty-four hours. How did we treat those we interacted with in person, in traffic, or online? What we think about another directly or indirectly does make a difference in their and our welfare. If we find that we have been thinking, speaking, acting, or looking, in any way that has been less than kind, encouraging, or empowering, may we seek God’s forgiveness. May we also pray for the grace to begin each day with a firmer intent to think, speak, act, and look at another with the primary intent of willing their good.

May we also pray for those who lead us, secularly as well as religiously, especially as the early voting has begun. May each policy that is formulated; how we deal with the unborn, health care, aboriginal rights, law enforcement, capital punishment, immigration reform, racism, interfaith or no faith, sexual orientation, end of life issues, scientific advancement, military decisions regarding war and peace, begin with the dignity of the person. Building a culture of life starts person to person, but doesn’t just stop there. We also need to stand up when the dignity of our brothers and sisters are not respected. May we be inspired by Jesus to be aware of the needs of another, be moved with compassion to want to help another, and the courage to embrace and walk with another.

Photo: I’m drumming with Albert White Hat, Sr. (November 18, 1938 – June 13, 2013) and neighbors at the Lakota Summer Institute, Rosebud Reservation, SD. I believe in the summer of 1990. I feel blessed having had the opportunity to learn from and spend time with Albert that summer. He taught me a lot about respecting the dignity of the person.

Johnson, Luke T. 2007. “The Gospel of Luke”. In vol. 3, Sacra Pagina Series, edited by Daniel J. Harrington. Minnesota, Liturgical Press, 1991.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, October 30, 2020

Some Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you” (Lk 13:31).

Even with this warning, from some Pharisees no less, Jesus continued to teach openly and publicly as well as performed healings and cast out demons. He did not fear the threat of retribution even from the likes of Herod. He willingly surrendered all to his Father.

The courage of Jesus makes him a very dangerous man because he cannot be controlled, threatened, or coerced. Jesus is sure of what God has sent him to do and he is going to follow through with his Father’s plan even it means giving up his life.

Some of his persecutors like the centurion who ran his spear through his side, admired the courage of Jesus, coming to believe that he was the Messiah (cf. Mark 16:39). Many of the first-century martyrs who followed Jesus to their own deaths were a big reason for many who came to believe and also became followers of this One who died on a Cross. Tertullian, an early Church Father, living from 155 – 220 AD, went so far as to say that “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

We are all called by God to be martyrs, not necessarily by shedding our blood. Martyr literally means witness. Each of us is called by Jesus to bear witness to what we believe. Faith is a gift. If we feel that we are weak in our faith, we are in good company, because Jesus said on more than one occasion to his Apostles, the ones he would send out as his witnesses, “Oh, you of little faith.”

If we feel like our faith could use a little shoring up, then we can ask God to increase our faith, while at the same time, we can start to bear witness in our everyday encounters. How this plays out will be different for each of us. All of us have had those stirrings of the heart to say or do something or to reach out in one way or another.

Last year while I was still in Los Angeles, I was walking back to our apartment with a pizza for supper. Ahead of me was a disheveled, skinny, man who certainly looked like he could have used something to eat. I felt the stirring within to ask if he wanted a slice, not a big effort or cost on my part. I bought into the mind noise of reasons why I shouldn’t make the offer and instead picked up my pace like the priest or the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan, widened my distance, so as not to provide him the opportunity to ask, and walked by him at a steady clip.

A few months ago, back home now in Florida, I was driving home with a pizza and saw a man sitting on the sidewalk. This time I pulled the car over and offered him a slice. He said he didn’t like pizza but thanked me for the offer. Like all of us, there have been times I have not followed through on the invitation of the Holy Spirit and times when I have. The key is not to beat ourselves up when we don’t but to continue to pray for discernment, and for Jesus to give us the courage to act as he did.

How is God calling, challenging us, to resist indifference and be his witnesses in our everyday lives? May the Sacred Heart of Jesus help us to be more open to the stirring of the Holy Spirit to be better witnesses. Each time we say yes, our faith increases.

Photo: Statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Mission Dolores Basilica in the Mission District in San Francisco

Link of the Mass readings for Thursday, October 29, 2020

Jesus went up to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God (Lk 6:12).

Jesus spent the whole night in prayer to God. What is prayer? All of us as human beings seek meaning and to belong. We desire security and stability, as well as direction and adventure. We want to be accepted, to love and to be loved and to experience meaningful relationships. These primary yearnings are present within us. Often though we confuse what we truly desire and succumb to the temptations that ultimately leave us unsatisfied and more important ignore what will truly fulfill us: developing a relationship with God through prayer.

If you want to pray, you have already begun. The desire in and of itself to pray is prayer. The danger of reading about prayer is that we think we are praying. In the turning of the page or completion of the chapter, we feel as if we are accomplishing something, but we are only imagining how prayer can be. Peter Kreeft wrote: “It is tempting to remain in the comfortable theater of the imagination instead of the real world, to fall in love with the idea of becoming a saint and loving God and neighbor instead of doing the actual work, because the idea makes no demands on you” (Prayer for Beginners, 12).

There is a myriad of ways to pray and each practice will match each of our unique personalities. The key to prayer is to make a commitment to a time and a place to pray each day. Start with a timeframe, such as five minutes that you know you can do. Depending on the discipline of prayer you practice, your family, school, work, and/or ministerial demands will be indicators going forward as to how much you might be able to increase the time you pray once you have built a consistent practice.

The amount of time that we dedicate to prayer is not important. What is important is the commitment to pray each day. For me, attending Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours has been a consistent anchor since studying for the diaconate. The daily Mass readings, writing a reflection each day on them, and then sharing both with JoAnn was a practice we shared together each evening. Beginning about a year ago, I started meditating in the morning and the evenings. Before bed, I end the day praying and meditating with the mysteries of the Rosary.

JoAnn was less contemplative and more active in her prayer. She would speak to God as if speaking to a friend, we attended Mass together, and she experienced God in her daily activities and encounters with people. I too have found that seeing Jesus in those we encounter is a sign of our maturation in prayer. For the person is no longer other or one to be kept at arm’s length but a human being with dignity created in the image and likeness of God. This becomes more apparent when we spend time with one another.

St Therese of Lisieux offers us a good approach to prayer: “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy” (CCC, 2559). No matter how we pray, our goal is that we allow our lives to be conformed to Jesus, that we encounter and build a relationship with him and each other, such that our experience of prayer matches St Augustine’s: “True, whole prayer is nothing but love” (Foster, 1).

Photo: Taking a hike or walking with JoAnn was one of my favorite forms of prayer!

Foster, Richard J. Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home. NY: HarperCollins, 1992.

Kreeft, Peter. Prayer for Beginners. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, October 28, 2020

In today’s Gospel from Luke, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed and yeast. Each of these elements is not only small but they are tiny. Though with the proper environment, resources of sustenance, water, and sunlight, this seed will germinate, sprout, and grow into a large bush. Yeast, a single-celled organism, is the catalyst for assisting dough to rise, strengthen, and ferment, thus providing a more appealing and tasty bread.

Jesus offered these simple examples from everyday agrarian life that his listeners understood from experience. If we have planted seeds or made our own homemade bread, we could be in a better position to relate to these two small parables as well.

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus lives out the parables, in his engagement person to person. Jesus’ interaction happened concretely, through walking along the road and breaking of bread together, sharing stories, teaching, healing, and exorcising demons with his touch, and he still does so today. The smallest, genuine act of kindness or love can seem insignificant and may even go unnoticed by many, but it is important to the individual and can reveal dramatic results over time.

There is a story that expresses this point called, “A Simple Gesture” from the story collection, Chicken Soup for the Soul. The short tale describes how one day a boy named Mark was walking home from school and came upon another boy who had tripped and dropped all of his books and many other items. Mark offered to help carry some of the load of the other boy, who, as they walked home, found out was named Bill. They talked about common interests and when they approached Bill’s home, Bill invited Mark in for a Coke and to watch some T.V. They spent the afternoon together, then interacted on occasion for the rest of middle school and into their high school years.

Three weeks before their graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk. Bill shared that the reason that he had been carrying all of that stuff home on the day they had first met was because he didn’t want to leave a mess for anyone else to clean up. Bill had planned to commit suicide that evening. Bill continued to share that, after their original encounter and afternoon together, he realized that if he had killed himself that day he would have missed more opportunities to talk and laugh. Bill finished the conversation by saying, “So you see, Mark, when you picked up my books that day, you did a lot more. You saved my life” (Canfield and Hansen, 35-36).

Personal encounters were how Jesus helped others to realize that the Kingdom of God was at hand. Mark, in making the effort to help Bill pick up some of the personal items that he had dropped, helped to shift the momentum away from a potential suicide attempt. This action shows how Jesus can continue to work through us today.

Like a modern-day Good Samaritan parable, “A Simple Gesture”, helps us to see that when we are aware of opportunities to help and act with genuine care, no matter how small, we can have a dramatic effect on another’s life. The opposite is also true.

Many people have a lot on their plate, we may not be aware of even half of what others are going through. That is why we need to be attentive to the move of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He will lead us out beyond ourselves so that we notice others. In doing so, we become like the mustard seed, or the yeast, in another’s life. Through a smile, a hello, a bent ear to listen, what may appear to be minuscule or mundane at the moment, may, in fact, be life-changing and transforming.

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Photo: Back when we were still dating! Without JoAnn’s consistent kindness, caring, and support, I would not be where I am today.

Canfield, Jack, and Mark Victor Hansen. Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, 1993.

Link for the Mass Readings for Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God (Lk 13:1013).

In reading this Gospel passage, we see again the compassion and mercy of Jesus. He was aware and saw the need of the crippled woman, called her to himself, she came, and through his words and the laying on of his hands, the woman was healed. He did so without hesitation, knowing that since he was healing on the sabbath this would bring further scrutiny and criticism. Yet, Jesus did not think of himself, he thought of the woman in need and made himself present to her.

Jesus is not only a model of service but also the very power as the Son of God that brings about healing. In today’s Gospel, Jesus was aware of the woman’s need. The first step in building a culture of life is to respect the dignity of each person we encounter and to be aware of their need. It is much easier to be unaware of or to operate from a position of – they brought the issue upon themselves. We can react with indifference, impatience, and/or contempt because we would rather not be bothered by another’s issues.

The next step is an invitation. Once Jesus becomes aware of the woman, he did not impose his will, even for her healing. Instead, Jesus invited her to come. We need to respect another’s option to say no to help and allow them to come on their own. Though there are times, such as for those who are dealing with an addiction, when there may be a need for more direct intervention.

We need to resist being stumbling blocks to others in need of the healing presence of Jesus. We are all capable of accepting another where they are and as they are, we can will their good, and we can be a healing, understanding, and supportive presence. We can be a means of healing as were the four men who brought their crippled friend to Jesus and being undeterred from not having access by letting him down through a roof (see Mark 2:1-12 and Matthew 9:1-8). We are called to bring the love and mercy of Christ to others and we also need to be kinder and more gentle with ourselves. When there is awareness, invitation, acceptance of the invitation, and two or more gathered in the name of Jesus, there can be healing.

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Photo: from freebibleimages.org

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, October 26, 2020