9th Sunday in Ordinary Time
READING 1:
Deuteronomy 11:18, 26-28, 32 Psalm 31 READING 2: Romans 3:21-25, 28 GOSPEL: Matthew 7:21-27
I’d like to invite everyone who is a sinner to raise your hands. Even if you didn’t raise your hands, God knows all about you. It is important to remember that every human being, every one of us, who can sin, is a sinner. We believe that God expects us to do good works and live good lives while we are here on earth. We also believe that faith is the foundation of all healing including the healing of our souls. But our common reality is that we cannot do enough good works or have the total faith necessary to justify ourselves. So, now, please raise your hand if you need Jesus Christ as your Savior? We need Jesus Christ to make up the difference. But we come closest to living our lives as the Father wills when we love as Jesus loved even forgiving us from the cross. A health care worker told me that it was a busy morning when at about 8:30 AM, an elderly gentleman arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had to be somewhere at 9:00 AM. She took his vital signs and asked him to have a seat knowing that it would be over an hour before someone would see him. Something about his 80+ years and the urgency of his 9:00 AM appointment made her decide to take a moment and evaluate his wound. On exam, she could see it was well healed and so, after talking with one of the doctors, she got the necessary supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound. While she was taking care of him, she asked him if he had another doctor’s appointment that morning at 9:00 AM. The gentleman told her, no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to have breakfast with his wife. So, she asked about his wife’s condition. He said that she had been in the nursing home for awhile and she is a victim of Alzheimer’s disease. She asked if his wife would be upset if he was late. He said that his wife no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now. She asked, “And you still go every morning even though she doesn’t know who you are?” He smiled and said, “She doesn’t know me, but I still know who she is.” True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be and will not be. That’s the love that has Jesus asking his Father to forgive us. That’s the love that not only gets us through the storms in life but even invites us to dance in the rain. And that’s the Good News! Fr. Jeff McGowan |
