Clean Slate
The Catholic Calendar for Thursday, January 25, 2016
Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle
Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Acts 22:3-16 or 9:1-22
Psalm 117:1bc, 2
Mark 16:15-18
A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:
"Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15).
This past Christmas my only desire was to see the face of Jesus. Firm in my faith, I boldly asked for this unheard of gift. I knew that with God all things are possible and that He would find a way.
It was Christmas morning and I still hadn't received my wish. My husband and I had just attended Christmas Mass while vacationing in Florida and were waiting for our breakfast at a busy cafe. I started to think about what I would write for my meditation on today's Gospel of St. Mark, the Great Commission of Jesus to the Eleven, "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature."
My thoughts were interrupted by a young couple entering the room to be seated. The young man was assisting a severely disabled woman whom I guessed to be his wife. I watched as he held her up and slowly walked with her; his patience was extraordinary. She struggled to move her stiff body to their table, her eyes blank and gazing upward, with no control to speak clearly.
It occurred to me that this woman was physically unable to do what Jesus had asked His Apostles to do, and what He asks of us all: to proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
But God always finds a way.
The expressionless young woman was slowly leveled to her chair and, while I was thinking and watching, she suddenly looked straight at me. Caught rudely staring, I shyly smiled at her. She looked at me square, giving me the most intense, magnificent smile I had ever seen, the joy within her radiating.
I not only witnessed her loudly and clearly proclaiming God's Word to me, but my Christmas wish came true, as I looked into the beautiful face of my King of Kings.