Monday of Week 31 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
Philippians 2:1-4 | Psalm 130(131) | Luke 14:12-14
Today’s reading and Gospel share a common message: “be humble, take care of your neighbor’s interests before yours, without expecting anything in return”.
Which isn’t to say you won’t gain any benefits, just that it’s not the reason to offer a helping hand.
✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞
Yesterday, my wife and I visited one of her brothers-in-law. I knew he had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for a long time, but nothing prepared me for the sight of a formerly robust and cheerful man reduced to a miserable half-sized husk after almost 20 years of neural degeneration.
So we did the only thing we could do: massage his limbs, then pray over him, asking the Lord to give him a little more each day:
a little more physical strength to withstand the crushing force of gravity,
a little more mental strength to withstand the crushing force of despair,
a little more motor control to let him shift himself in his chair,
a little more clarity of mind to let him recognize and communicate with his children and young grandson,
a little more wholeness of mind and body to relieve some of the backbreaking burden on his long-suffering wife.
What did I get out of it? Surprisingly, renewed hope for a miraculous recovery. Seeing the etched lines on his wife’s face, her salt-and-pepper hair and a general air of fatigue and hopelessness, just kicked off something in me, a quiet certainty that “you can heal both of them, Lord, if it be Your will”.
✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞
Do you have friends or relatives who are similarly crippled in body and/or mind? Have you visited them recently, spent some time with them, tried to help in any way? How did you feel after that?
Tired but hopeful, like me? I hope so.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.