Monday 4th Week of Lent – revisited 2021

Gospel – John 4:43-54

The Long and Winding Road!

Palm Sunday Road, Jerusalem

One year ago yesterday, the world came to a screeching halt.  Churches shut their doors!  Masses, Baptisms, weddings and funerals were cancelled!  Youth ministry, faith formation classes, schools and businesses closed!  We were all sheltering in place at home, venturing out only when absolutely necessary.  And when we did leave the safety of our home, we were masked, we sanitized our hands before, during and after, and we kept our 6 foot distance.  Grocery store lines were long and the shelves were empty.

One year ago today, March 15, 2020, I posted my first on-line daily Gospel reflection.  And here we are today, 365 Gospel homilies later!  Safe to say, I had no idea how these daily musings would be received much less whether they would resonate with a world so stressed and so fearful of the future, a time filled with loss and separation.  I offer you my blessings and thanks for joining me on this spiritual journey.  I give thanks to the Spirit for His constant guidance and inspiration.  And the journey continuesJ

Speaking of journeys, a royal official in today’s Gospel has traveled from his home in Capernaum to find Jesus in Cana.  He makes this journey to ask Jesus to come back to Capernaum to heal his dying son.  It is a distance of 20 miles from Cana to Capernaum, roughly a 2-day trip by foot.  Imagine all the fears and stress he must have gone through on that long trek.  All the worries about his son’s health, the anguish of leaving him and the very real fear of losing him to his illness!  Sound familiar?  Loss, separation, fear, stress, worry? 

And yet he makes the trip!  What in the world would possess him to leave home, to make that long trip?  Faith!  Faith that he would find Jesus!  Faith that he could convince Jesus to come back with him to Capernaum!  Faith that Jesus could/would cure his son!  And in the end, FAITH in Jesus’ words – go, your son will live!  Imagine that return journey, filled not only with faith in Jesus but with hope for a cure and love for his son!  Imagine the joy when he returns home!

Unlike the official, our pandemic journey continues.  But we are seeing glimmers of hope.  All we need is faith!  All we need is to believe in our Father, to believe in our miracle-worker Jesus, to hope for healing of mind and body and to believe that we travel this long and winding road in the company of our Savior!

Wisdom of God, be with me, always at work in me!

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