Friday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
Tomorrow is the Feast of All Saints Day, which means that tonight will be All Hallow's Eve. In light of that, I think we could benefit from reading over St. Paul's words from today's first reading from his letter to the Philippians very carefully. I would suggest reading them over slowly as if he were writing those words to us. As we read them over carefully, imagine St. Paul saying these things to us from heaven: he gives thanks to God for us, he holds us in his heart, we are partners with him in grace, etc. The reason I think this exercise can be beneficial is that it reflects a reality we too often ignore, namely the communion of saints. St. Paul wrote this letter to the Christians at Philippi while he was in prison. He is looking to those Philippian Christians as his fellow workers in the kingdom of God, as his partners in the gospel.
But the gospel reading also reveals a striking reality. We are surrounded by saints because Christ sanctifies us. In today's gospel reading, a man in need of healing is healed by Jesus even if it raised much controversy. God desires to heal us, to make us whole, to make us holy, to invite us to sainthood. As we read the section from Paul, also become aware of Jesus present in us. Jesus is the source of our healing and our holiness.
The reality is we are surrounded by saints in heaven, and we ourselves are part of the communion of saints on earth. After reading St. Paul's words, take a moment to think about how we might go about our daily lives differently if we saw ourselves as partners in the kingdom of God with all of these saints, including St. Paul, in heaven, and with each other here on earth.
Let's try to live this out in our lives. Let us press on and do the good realizing that we are not alone. We are made whole by Christ, we are loved by Christ and are surrounded by the saints in heaven. In this year of St. Paul, perhaps we could make a special effort to include him in our prayer life.
Jeff Morrow