A young man came to the door of the city’s largest hospital.
A plague was raging through the city so
horrible that as many as twenty people were dying each day, just in that
hospital alone. Many of the people who
died, were those who were tending to the ill. It was a desperate situation -- more and more
people were falling ill and fewer and fewer people were there to help them.
This twenty-year-old man, standing there, had not come
because he was ill, but because he wanted to help. He brought not new patients, but young men
like himself, willing to tend the dying. For four months he and his companions worked
day and night, not only to comfort the patients, but to organize and clean the
hospital. Only at the end of the plague
did Bernardine himself fall ill -- of exhaustion.
But this was St. Bernardine's way.[1] Another dynamic saint once said, “…I will not
be a burden, for I want not what is yours, but you…. I will most gladly spend
and be utterly spent for your sakes.” (2 Cor 12:14).
In today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Paul
recognizes “in every respect [the Athenians] are very religious,” and they want
to know how to stay in the good graces of their many gods. But Paul narrows the focus to his discovery of
the one altar dedicated to “an unknown god,” which became a perfect lead-in to tell
them about the God he knows. Paul is willing to meet these people right where
they are. He invites them to acknowledge
and experience his God, who, Paul says, is closer than they think.[2]
Not much has changed; we still struggle with acknowledging and
experiencing the one true God when there are so many other gods competing for
our worship. For far too many people, their gods are
success, popularity, wealth, possessions and power; celebrities and sports
figures are often lifted to godly status; and there are any number of other
things. Any and all of them take our
attention away from who the real God is.
They consume our focus, attention, and energy. We spend our time and money on them. We focus on getting more of them. We make them our gods.[3]
As we begin to reopen our parish communities for public
worship & Mass, are we able to leave these false gods to re-invest
ourselves into the community of believers worshiping the one true God. To listen for and hear the Spirit of Truth, who
speaks to and guides us in glorifying our one God, and are we willing to spend ourselves
through works of service and mercy for those most in need.
[2] Weekday HomilyHelps. Homily Suggestion by
Jeanne Hunt.
[3] Thought of the Day: A One Year Devotional, by
Marty Pressey © 2020.
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