“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope. Remember that my life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again.”When will we see happiness again? Will it ever happen? “My days come to an end without hope.” No one knows what tomorrow will bring. Maybe good news of more vaccines available or the sudden end of our quarantine, maybe bad news of even more death. It all can just seem so hopeless. Nothing is certain. So, what do we do? Maybe all we are called to do now is lean into the misery, to really feel it in our bones. We need to allow ourselves to enter into the grief of all that we lost, the way Job entered into his. He cried out to God in despair. It’s time for us to do the same. We should see this Sunday’s reading as an invitation to be angry with God. I used to think that anger was a bad emotion, and certainly, too much uncontrollable anger is not good. But feeling angry is not evil, and expressing disappointment is not bad. It’s a part of being human. We’re allowed to mourn all that we lost this past year. We’re allowed to lament over lost plans, lost comforts, and lost time. That’s ok. That’s good, even. Only when we allow ourselves to feel all the “bad” things, can we make room for the hope and joy that is to come. The responsorial psalm reminds us to “Praise the Lord, who heals the brokenhearted.” That’s us. We are who the psalmist is talking about. We are the brokenhearted. And he is promising us that the Lord will heal us, “for he is good.” Jesus proves this to us in the Gospel reading of Mark, when he heals Simon’s mother-in-law and then proceeds to heal the rest of the town who has gathered at his door. Mark isn’t simply telling us about the people of Capernaum. In his healing of their town, Jesus is promising that he can help us, too. Whether we need healing ourselves or whether it's those closest to us who need the help the most. All we have to do is show up, in our pain and our anguish, and ask. “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” The pandemic has exposed all of our wounds, even the ones we’ve been avoiding. But one day, our wounds will be tended to. One day, all this will be over. For now, all we can do is wait, draw closer to the Lord and trust that he will heal us, the brokenhearted.
Pope Francis continued his catechesis on "The Holy Spirit and the Bride," reflecting on the heritage of prayer in the Book of Psalms.
Let us continue the catechesis on the Holy Spirit who guides the Church towards Christ our hope. He is the guide.
This Pentecost, Steve Lawrence reflects on the fire we call the Holy Spirit and how we are called to open our hearts and be consumed by that fire.
On the feast of the Ascension, Carissa Douglas reflects that we are called both to look forward to heaven and to be Christ’s presence at work in the world.
As we approach the end of the Easter season, it is a perfect time for us to reflect on where and how we are called to bear our Easter light.