7 July 2015
Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Gospel again depicts Jesus rubbing elbows with the crowd. His heart went out to them because he saw in them so many who were broken down and wounded. When I find myself in a crowd – in a mall or in a stadium – am I inclined to see what he saw? He was attentive to the needs of all. Do I pray that each one I see hear Jesus calling him?
The problem is so many do not know how to pray. There was the man in the Gospel who couldn’t speak. But he did not come to Jesus to be healed . He was brought to him by others. Here for me is an example of the need for prayer, of the power of prayer for others I don’t even know.
Jesus ends this episode by telling his disciples to “ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers,” men and women disposed to be conduits of his healing power. I personally know others who need healing, and the media reminds me each day of millions more. Jesus asks me to bring them to him for curing. Isn’t this what prayer is all about? Doesn’t this encourage me to be more prayerful, to make offerings for others, particularly the most needful?