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Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Thursday, February 16th, 2012

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 43: 18-25 ~ Psalm 41: 2-5,13-14 ~ St. Paul 2nd letter to Corinthians ~ Mark 2:1-12

Today’s scripture readings call us to pay attention to the beautiful word, “Faith”. What is faith? Where do we get it? Why do we need it? How do we share it? Why is it so much a part of the God vocabulary?

In the first reading Isaiah the prophet quotes the Lord, “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see I am doing something new! We have recently celebrated that, “something new.” The coming of Jesus Christ into the world as one of us and the beginning of a New Year are ways God shares with us God’s desire for us to grow our faith.

What is faith?  For many of us, the word can be awkward. It may be difficult to hear or understand, even more to use, because for so long it has been interpreted by many religious traditions as a test for spiritual worthiness. One was expected to possess a certain quantity of faith. If that was so, then it was expected that the terminally ill individual would get well, a hungry person would be fed, a poor man would receive riches, a person sexually different would be changed if they “only had enough faith”! How can we reclaim the word faith so that we may use it for our own healing as well as for the healing of others?

Where do we get faith?  We may begin by noting that in most ancient scriptural texts, faith is not a noun. Faith is a verb. It is not a thing and so cannot be measured or possessed. We may not look at someone and say, he or she has faith or does not.” Faith is a way of being. It is a spiritual practice, a way of discovering what is reliable and true, a way of expanding trust in our inner wisdom which comes from our creator, the Source of all good. We grow faith daily. It ebbs and flows with our daily challenges and blessings. We also grow our faith as the Hebrews, for whom faith involved a deep trust in the watchful love of God for all God’s children. Here, throughout St. Mary’s Health Care System we can surely claim relationship to the words of Isaiah, when even under the most terrible circumstances, those whose hearts are centered in the faithful care of God (every person/creature) “God shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

Why do we need faith?  How can we share faith?  Watch Jesus closely. He teaches, but also learns from others. He heals, but also accepts healing. He is powerful, but humble. Our Buddhist brothers and sisters have a word for Faith: Sraddha. More than a theological doctrine, Sraddha implies a sense of trust, clarity and confidence. It literally means, “ to put one’s heart on.” Thus the practice of faith is the practice of a strong and courageous heart. Faith is a centering response; a search for our true nature, that unique nature placed within each one of us by the Spirit.

St. Paul’s second letter to the community in Corinth shows us why faith is so much a part of God’s vocabulary. He assures them that as God is faithful, so will he be as their leader and teacher. “Our word to you is not, “yes” and “no”, but as Jesus Christ: “YES”. However many are the promises of God, their “Yes” is in God. Paul goes on to say that the “Amen” (Yes), therefore goes back to God from us. God has given the Spirit to us as a first installment. God created us to invest in us; daily as we grow our faith we experience the dividends. Those experiences are our return gifts to God.

In Mark’s Gospel for this Sunday we have a great lesson on the pleasure Jesus derives from those who grow their faith. Due to the thickness of the crowd in front of the home where Jesus was teaching, a few enthusiastic followers carrying a person to be healed get creative and break open the roof, lowering the man down within the reach of Jesus. “Jesus saw their Faith”! He first assures the ‘patient’ that all faults are forgiven. There is criticism from the cynics in the crowd. Jesus stops for a moment to gently address some “stinking thinking”. He then turns and heals the paralyzed man, saying, ”rise, pick up your mat and go home.”

Let us go well and gently following the Master Teacher as we grow!

Elizabeth Lowe
Chaplain

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Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Friday, January 27th, 2012

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Readings: Deuteronomy 18:15-20 1      Corinthians 7:32-35       Mark 1:21-28

A number of years ago I was walking through the campus at Harvard on my way to my car. The senior graduation was in progress on the lawn. The guest speaker was Alexander Solzhenitsyn. I caught bits and pieces of his address as I was walking. One statement he made was that “America had lost its courage.” A few weeks later I read the mixed reactions to his speech. Many people found them hard to accept; they took the position that since Solzhenitsyn was not native to America, he could not really know or understand the American version of democracy, and so what he said was not really applicable or true. The reaction of these people, then, was simply to dismiss what Solzhenitsyn was saying to them. Certainly they may have found his message threatening to them; they were perhaps frightened that if what he was saying was true, then their whole way of life and their values were in danger. Since this would be quite painful to accept they simply dismissed it by denying the authority of Solzhenitsyn to speak about those things.

The other reaction was quite different. These people seemed to understand what Solzhenitsyn was saying even though what he was saying was also quite difficult and threatening to them. Still they heard it in a different way. They were even grateful that at least someone came along who had the courage to say what, they felt, needed to be said and should have been said a long time ago. This latter group saw him as one speaking out of his own painful experience, and, therefore, “with great authority.”

Whether we agree with what the Russian author said or not, it illustrates the point of the Gospel of this Sunday’s Liturgy. Whenever someone speaks with new ideas or a new way of seeing things that is contrary to our way of seeing them, or that challenges our value system, it is natural to react to them with a certain degree of hostility. We often demand proof of them and wonder by what right they say these things.

This is the situation that we see in the Gospel. Christ has been invited, as was the custom, to teach in the synagogue. And, as we read in the Gospel, he spoke to them in a manner that was different from the one they were accustomed to hearing. He spoke “with authority,” that is to say, as one who knew what he was talking about. As proof of this, he then performed the miracle of exorcising the man of the unclean spirit. This direct proof of his authority was even more of a challenge to many of the religious leaders of his time, and it provoked in them an even greater resistance. They did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah, and the fact that he might possibly be the Messiah was upsetting and disturbing to them. It was a challenge to their value and even to their temporal position as leaders of the people.

It is normal for us, when we’ve heard someone present to us a new way of looking at things, to find it rather disturbing. We are then forced to re-evaluate our past way of doing things and consider the possibility of adopting new values. Because this can be disturbing, we first tend to block out or deny what the speaker is saying. Still we must try to understand him, as in fact, a great number of people did in the reading today.

They were open to Christ’s teaching and to the miracle that he worked; they recognized his authority. In this way their reaction was quite different from the people who were in the position of power as their religious leaders. They accepted his teaching and made it known throughout the whole countryside; “at once his fame spread everywhere throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.”

Their reaction might teach us also to listen to what others say to us, particularly those who speak from experience, even though we may not always like or even ultimately agree with what they say. We can never be in a position of possessing the whole truth. And each person can teach us something, if only we are open enough to try to understand them.

What efforts are you making to refine your skills of listening to patients, residents and fellow workers?

Rev. Joseph Manship
Pastoral Care

 

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The Feast of Epiphany

Friday, January 6th, 2012

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Epiphany: manifestation~ realization~ appearance

Readings: Isaiah 60: 1-6     St. Paul to the Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6          Gospel Matthew: 2:1-12

We have all experienced “epiphanies” in our personal lives. Sometimes they are small manifestations regarding something we need to change in our lives, take on or pay attention to. Today’s beautiful feast calls us to the joyful realization that God is there for us all; that God’s Son Jesus was sent not only to the Jewish nation, as is declared by the prophet Isaiah:  “Rise up in Splendor, Jerusalem…” Rather, he was sent to us all regardless of race or creed. Paul writes for our uplifting: “God’s secret plan as I have briefly described it was revealed to me, unknown to men in former ages but now revealed by the Spirit to the holy apostles and prophets. It is no less than this: in Christ Jesus the Gentiles are now co-heirs with the Jews, members of the same body and sharers of the promise…”

What an Epiphany! What a realization! It creates the kind of joy within that the mystic, Dame Julian of Norwich surely felt when one day in meditation she heard the voice of God give this assurance:  “ See, I am God. See, I am in all things. See, I do all things.  See, I never remove my hands from my works, nor ever shall, without end.”  Julian of Norwich

There is a realization/epiphany we should perhaps remind ourselves of when life is difficult and we are tempted to give up and find ourselves questioning where God even is in all the turmoil. We need to remind ourselves as well that the people in our care often feel as lost and alone. It often happens that as we boost the morale of others with our care, prayer, companionship; whatever form it may take we find our own spirits lifted. I once had a good mentor say to me, “Remember, you do not bring God to anyone. You go into the room of a patient and find God.”

Is that what occurred that first Epiphany in Jerusalem? Matthew shares, Astrologers from the east arrived one day in Jerusalem inquiring.  “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We observed his star at its rising and have come to pay him homage.” So, we read in different texts that they knelt, bowed, offered gifts. Perhaps they stayed awhile to share food and conversation. The text then relates, “they went home a different way.” Many take that to mean they tried to avoid an encounter with Herod. I believe it is more true to “Epiphany” to believe they went home with the full realization of who Jesus was. They brought their gifts, but they found God.

Was there a manifestation for the child Jesus as well? Why not? We don’t know for certain how old Jesus was when the Magi visited. Very young children can realize, surmise. God has foreigners, pagans come as the first to recognize and give Jesus the proper respect as King of the Jews. Why then would God not allow Jesus to discern that he was here on this earth for them as well? Epiphany!

Rest easy; we’re in good hands! A blessed New Year to all.

Elizabeth Lowe
Chaplain

 

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Feast of Christ the King

Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

Sunday, Novmber 20, 2011

Ezekiel 34: 11-12, 15-17     1 Corinthians 15: 20-26, 28     Matthew 25: 31-46

Everyone who is a follower of Jesus Christ has his or her own image of who He is for them. For myself, I see Jesus as someone who walked in our humanity and showed us how to live the Christian life. He walked in our shoes for 33 years. He grew up poor; his race was hated; he worked alongside his father, Joseph, as a carpenter. He sometimes caused his parents to be anxious. He associated with the poorest of the poor in every aspect. He lived in very difficult times and circumstances. He was a very real person with real feelings. He loved, mourned, rejoiced, laughed, and even got angry. As He died on a cross with the criminals, he expressed the feeling of abandonment. Yet in the end, he trusted God the Father.

The other image of Jesus is one of an exalted king, one who rose from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father. In the gospel for this week, we are given a view of Christ as King. “When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him.” While this image of Jesus may provide meaning for some, I see his kingship like no other. In God’s kingdom, real power is about letting go and real kingship is about serving others. Jesus has always led by example. He never asks more of us than he would ask from himself. As a king, he served humbly. For me, one of the best images of Jesus providing that example was at the Last Supper when he got down on his knees and washed the feet of his apostles. We must not forget his supreme sacrifice for us. He laid down his life for us, his friends. A royal sacrifice.

As a follower of Jesus, I not only embrace his humanity, but I also embrace his kingship. As his follower, am I prepared to go the distance? Am I ready to stand up for what I believe? Am I ready to serve others not for my own glory but for the glory of God? How do we follow in the footsteps of Jesus, at D’Youville or St. Mary’s? How do we welcome the stranger in our midst? Feed the hungry? How do we live out our mission? If we live simply, humbly, courageously, we will not only come to know the humanity of Jesus, but also his royal priesthood.

Dan Doyon
Pastoral Care

 

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Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Thursday, November 10th, 2011

Sunday, November 13, 2011 

Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31        I Thessalonians 5:1-6        Matthew 25:14-30

When we hear the word “talent,” we most often think of it in terms of intellectual, artistic, or athletic ability. We speak of a “talented person” as being quite gifted, with many creative skills and a high “I.Q.” Talent searches are conducted to find just such capable people. It may be somewhat surprising, therefore, to realize that a “talent” in its original use, was a Roman coin.

Our present meaning of the word is then an analogy, drawn from Christ’s illustration in today’s Gospel Reading. So, we have generally understood this story in terms of a person’s intelligence, special aptitudes, and other personality factors. In this view, the interpretation we give the “Parable of the Talents,” is that the more gifted we are, the more we must achieve with these gifts whenever we hear this familiar story.

In sports we know how self-defeating it can be for a team or any individual player, to be too anxious about losing. In a similar way, as a result of industrial and highway studies, the term “accident proneness” was devised. It characterizes the person who, too worried about being involved in accidents, tends to have them. Similarly, athletes who are too cautious often lose in the last minutes, when with a little courage and daring, they might have won.

It is this self-defeating element of anxiety that Christ is also emphasizing today. Notice how the man with one talent projects his fear and anxiety—making the one in charge seem to him to be a tyrant. Setting such conditions up in his mind, then, in a way that the others did not, he scares himself into playing it “completely safe.” His distorted version of the situation was that he would please the master most, and do his best job, by taking no chances. As we know, this is the exact opposite of what the project was about.

The German word, “eng,” meaning narrow, catches the first sound of the “anxiety.” It suggests, therefore, that when we are trapped by an anxious state, we are, by our narrowed view, in danger of putting ourselves into a self-defeating system. This anxiety seems to be in all of us at a very deep level. It can even affect the attitude of a whole nation. This is why President Franklin Roosevelt will never be forgotten for his challenging words, during the dark days of the depression, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

This is then, one of the additional points in “The Parable of the Talents.” Faith is a leap, in the analogy of a trapeze act, and not clinging safely to the bar. Christ assures us here, that one of the major purposes of our lives is to invest in ourselves, and in others. We can be confident in what we are, and be certain of God’s strength and support in the midst of the risks we must take. “Do not be afraid,” was one of Jesus’ most common greeting. Loving us as he does, he greets us, too, with the same consoling reassurance.

Reflection Questions:

What talents has God entrusted to me?

My daily living and working is concerned about increasing these talents whenever I_____________ _______________________________________.

As I consider my God-given talents and my responsibilities to God and others, what causes me to live sometimes in “fear” or to be lazy?

What kind of God entrusts “his servants” with the kind of wealth depicted in the Gospel?

Fr. Joseph Manship 

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32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Friday, November 4th, 2011

Sunday, November 6, 2011

A Call to Consciousness

The readings for this coming Sunday’s Sabbath Day speak clearly to us of a caring God who through God’s messengers, Paul, Matthew and Jesus, caution us all to pay attention; to be conscious.  The Psalmist in song 63: 2-8, calls to God in our name: “Let my prayer come before you, Lord; listen and answer me.” {Be conscious of me.} What a gift! We can speak up to God as we would a parent or friend.

We move in our reflection to the first reading, a passage from the Book of Wisdom 6: 12-16. “…and whoever for her sake, {Wisdom’s} keeps vigil, shall quickly be free from care.” Approaching the next reading, we meet Paul, a dedicated and conscious follower for Jesus, writing a letter to a group of Christians and assuring them. I take leave to paraphrase this passage in order to emphasize the concern and consciousness these followers had learned from Jesus, the greatest Teacher of all. “We do not want you to be unaware brothers and sisters about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. If we believe that Jesus died and rose, then God will through Jesus bring home all who have fallen asleep.” While pondering this reminder from Paul, we might ask, “Who is this We?” My belief is that the “We” consists of the community of inclusive believers who want all to know Christ and the call to eternal life that he came here to share. God the father is part of the “We”. God created us, we are God’s children and God wants us all home. Jesus is the “We” who was born, lived, taught, ministered and died to make us conscious of the path home.

We follow along this path in our reflection to the Gospel of Matthew 25: 1-13. This story is another call to consciousness. It tells of ten bridesmaids who are asked to await the arrival of the groom. However, it is late and they are tired. It is also the age before the invention of flashlights. It was necessary to keep oil rags wrapped around torches. Five of these women were conscious of that and five were not. As evening darkened, the five who did not prepare were heard to ask of those who did for assistance. The five who had oil refused to help. According to the story, those five were allowed into the feast {heaven}, the others were shut out. This is harsh. According to scholars of the New Testament, this is not a typical Jesus approach. Jesus is not divisive. Are we not accustomed to Jesus admonishing those who will not share? However, we know from real life experience that there are certain things one cannot obtain at the last minute.

In our ministries here at St. Mary’s/d’Youville Pavilion, we are not averse to sharing. It has never been my experience to be refused help or to be shut out for being less prepared. The times I have been “unconscious” have been blessed learning opportunities.

“Each person has influence on the people they contact. We can reach other people who are still in fear and anger, distraction and addiction; we can reach those people through a contagion. Consciousness is Contagious! Catch It!

Blessings to You,

Elizabeth Lowe
Chaplain

 

 

 

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31st Sunday of Ordinary Time

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Malachi 1:14-2;2, 8-10       1 Thes. 2:7-9, 13       Matt. 23:1-12

The reading from the Prophet Malachi was certainly chosen to go along with the Gospel reading today. It is not very inspiring but it is a clear message to the religious leaders of the time. They had been remiss in their duties as religious leaders and they had violated the Covenant with God and with the people. The Prophet calls them “contemptible and base.” No mincing of words here!

On the other hand, in the second reading, Paul says how he has treated the people with gentleness and affection, sharing himself and the Gospel of Jesus with them. He has worked hard and not been a burden to them. He thanks God for their receiving the Word of God with such great faith. This passage reminds me that loving and gentle ways most often produce kindness and goodness and a return of love from others. “What goes around comes around” in positive ways as well as it does when negativity is sown.

This passage from Matthew’s Gospel can be a difficult one so I did a bit of research in William Barclay’s commentary. Jesus is not commending the Scribes and Pharisees for all their rules and regulations that burden the people. He is saying that in so far as they are teaching the great principles of the Law that came to us through Moses, they must be obeyed. The Ten Commandments are about reverence for God and respect for our others, their life, possessions, and good name. But as far as the hundreds and thousands of other miniscule rules and regulations imposed by the religious leaders of Israel, these are an intolerable burden for the people. The commentator says that “whenever religion becomes a depressing affair of burdens and prohibitions, it ceases to be true religion.” Interesting statement…

The second part of this reading has to do with being ostentatious, being “show offs.” Jesus says the Scribes and Pharisees are doing that by the way they dress, their taking the best seats and places, and demanding titles. Let this be a reminder to us. Let us do the right and the good because it is the right and the good, not to be seen, not to be appreciated or commended. Let us take the last places and be humble and more concerned with others than with ourselves.

Let us remember that Jesus is our teacher and a reflection of our heavenly Father who loves us tenderly. In our work, service, and healing ministry here in St. Mary’s Health System, we are invited to do the best we can, to give distinguished service for the good and well being of the people we serve. Let us do so in the name of Jesus who is the divine Healer and in whose steps we follow, just as St. Marguerite d’Youville did in her day.

Sr. Suzanne Beaudoin, SSCh
Director of Pastoral Care

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Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Monday, October 24th, 2011

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Matthew 23:34-40

In order to understand today’s Gospel reading, we need to say a few words about the social culture of Jesus’ time.

- A widow was a childless woman whose husband had died. She was reduced to begging.

- An orphan was a child who had no male guardian.

- Aliens were strangers who lived among people who were not relatives.

These were the “at risk” people in those times. Since they were most vulnerable and without personal or societal power, God’s love was clearly focused in their direction. God has always been attentive to the needy, defenseless, and oppressed. In fact, that’s how Israel got to “know” God – while they were aliens and strangers in Egypt. With this in mind, let’s now hear the Gospel for today.

Jesus lived a public life. People took notice of Him because he had complete internal freedom. He was a teacher and He taught what He had learned from His Abba. Jesus said what He wanted, when He wanted, with a self-assurance that “riled up” the graduates from Rabbinic Schools.

One day, a lawyer, who knew the laws and commandments in detail, confronted Jesus. (There were, at that time, 633 commandments to obey: 365, one for every day of the year; and 268, one for each bone in the human body.) The lawyer, knowing that Jesus did not attend “law school,” asked this question. “Which is the greatest commandment in the law?” With His usual aplomb, Jesus replied: “Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” And before the lawyer could react, Jesus quickly added: “And the second commandment is like the first: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ The whole law of Moses depends on these two commandments.”

In Hebrew, the word for “love” is the word RAHAM, which is derived from the word RAHAMIN, which means the “womb where children are made.” So God’s love is the intimate love a mother has for her children. This describes God’s attachment to His people. The term was very bold and personal, but its meaning somehow got lost in the overwhelming numbers of commandments. Jesus cut through those numbers and reduced them to two easy to remember commandments. In Jesus’ mind and 5 through His words, Jesus simplified life for anyone listening.

We show we love God not so much by observing the numerous commandments, but by loving what God loves. And God favors the widow, the helpless, the oppressed, the powerless, the suffering, etc.

It sounds a lot like Health Care, doesn’t it, where we care for the sick, the feeble, the elderly, the suffering, the helpless, the depressed and the dying? That’s why working in Health Care is more than just a job. It’s a response to a calling. It’s loving and caring for the people God loves the most. It’s like being the hands of God’s love. That is one of the reasons I don’t retire. As long as I can serve the patients, I plan to keep doing it. It assures me that when I die, I’ll die alive!!!

Kenn Rancourt

Chaplain

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Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Feast day of St. Marguerite d’Youville

Matthew 22:15-22

The Gospel reading from Matthew for this Sunday portrays the Pharisees trying to trap Jesus with a trick question: “Is it lawful to pay taxes?” If Jesus answers “Yes” he is in conflict with the Pharisees (and many others) who believe they shouldn’t pay taxes to the Roman Empire but if he answers “No” he will be in trouble with Rome. As usual Jesus very rarely answers a question directly-in fact in this instance he asks the crowd to look at a coin and tell whose head is on the coin. When they crowd answers, “Caesar”, Jesus says, “Then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar but give to God what belongs to God.”

With this response Jesus avoided sedition but he also made a much greater point about who/what ultimately belongs to God. As Jesuit priest John Foley writes, “What if, in spite of the voices within you saying that you are not worth much, in spite of the setbacks of life, the losses, the flatness, in spite of all these, what if God created you with room inside you where God, out of love for you, can be quietly present? I can hear all the objections to such an idea: ‘God would never be at home in me, not until I do a lot better with my life.’ Or, ‘You want me to be some kind of nut, running around acting holy?’ Or simply, ‘I don’t want to.’

But what if God were a great friend, a loving, faithful amigo who really does want to be with you, within you, as much as is possible? In fact, how would it be if God were a companion who truly and actually accepts you and forgives you completely whenever you need it? Wouldn’t it mean that God put you and me into the world to sanctify it, to befriend the things of Caesar? Could be that we ourselves are those ‘things that belong to God’ that Jesus spoke of? ‘Belong,’ not in a possessed way, but in the way felt by those who love and are loved…If this were so, why wouldn’t we want to give ourselves to God, and then also bring our God-filled selves to Caesar’s palaces and to the dirty roads outside them and show everyone what Jesus is all about?” (Center for Liturgy)

Sunday, October 16 is the feast day of St. Marguerite d’Youville and this week we presented the Marguerite d’Youville awards to employees who demonstrate our values of respect, excellence, compassion and stewardship. Respect is about acknowledging the dignity and worth of the human person and while it may be Caesar’s image on the coin in the Gospel, it is in God’s image that humans are created. In the Judeo-Christian tradition this is a foundational concept and this is why we are called to show respect. We are called to bring our God-filled selves to work every day to treat each person we encounter (patient, family, resident or colleague) with respect and with love in order to promote healing. We don’t have to wait to be holy enough or good enough; we already belong to God and to each other and we have a wonderful role model in the spirit of St. Marguerite d’Youville.

Elizabeth Keene
Mission Integration

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Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Have you ever received an invitation to an event and wondered why you were invited? Perhaps you knew the person only casually. Or maybe the event was something you were only somewhat interested in attending. How did you respond? Did you send your regrets? Or maybe you forgot to respond at all. After the event was held, you heard from mutual friends that you had missed a wonderful time. There was terrific food, dancing, and a great time was had by all who attended. Had you not questioned the invitation or neglected it and simply replied, “Yes, will attend,” you would have been part of a wonderful celebration and had the time of your life.

 

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus shares a parable on the Kingdom of God. He compares the Kingdom of God to a wedding feast. We are all invited. For some, who share an intimate relationship with God, the response is swift: Will attend. For those who know God as an acquaintance, the response might be: I’ll see who else is going or I’ll think about it. And for others who still don’t know God or who don’t have a good relationship with Him, possible responses might be: Forget it. It’s not for me. I’m not worthy.

 

When we truly love someone, we love unconditionally. That doesn’t mean that we are blind to faults and shortcomings. We love the person and not necessarily their actions. When we fail the person we love, we ask for forgiveness. In the same way those who share a relationship with

God, need to ask for forgiveness when we have failed Him. Would you invite someone to your celebration with whom you have not reconciled? Likewise, we must be reconciled with God in order to answer his invitation.

 

The way we choose to live our lives is our answer to God’s invitation. Do you have a personal relationship with God? Is that relationship in good shape or is it in need of repair? How are our human relationships? Are those in good shape or do they need some forgiveness?

 

Being in relationship with someone is never easy. It is a lot of work and dedication. There are ups and downs. Good times and bad. However, the rewards of being in a good relationship generally outweigh the bad.

 

Bringing it closer to home, how are we in our relationships with one another here at work? How are we in our relationships with our clients, patients, and residents? Are those relationships worthy of an invitation to the banquet that awaits us? Hopefully we all choose to accept Jesus’ invitation every day and respond with an enthusiasm, “Yes, I will attend.”

 

 

Dan Doyon

Pastoral care

 

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