Wednesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
The profound nature of the universe is all around yet is difficult to fully appreciate in the midst of our seemingly mundane lives. Standing bedside with a family while their loved one goes quietly to meet God is an extraordinary honor as a chaplain. What seems truly miraculous about the moments is the love that is shared between the family and their dying loved one. It is, I hope, a reflection of the love and faith they have shared at many other times in their lives times which perhaps is perceived as ordinary.
Often life is often ordinary or so it seems. We go through the same motions, in regular patterns … wash, rinse, repeat…cheerios, peanut butter and jelly, meat and potatoes, work, pray, sleep, do it all again the next day. We go to church, we say the same prayers we see mostly the same people, sing similar songs. It seems routine and it is, or is it? The way we see things comes from the way we are formed, is shaped by the choices of interpreting what I see or think about something.
Abraham was so grateful to Melchizedek for the blessing and for goodness God done in his life that he gave a tenth of everything he had to this high priest. Is a tithe at mass something I feel I have to do, or is it something I want to do? Of course the answer can be both, yet this is on example of how we can look at the world.
What if we saw the ordinary or the commonplace as part of God’s plan of salvation? This vision has the potential of considering God and God’s will as part of our daily activities. It leads us to having eyes that see God in the people around us. It might help us realize that what seems a chance encounter with a patient, a colleague, a church or family member, is really an encounter with God.
In the gospel Jesus invites the man to stretch out his hand. As the man did so, his hand was restored, in large part because the man had faith that Jesus could heal. The reaction of the Pharisees who had just witnessed a miracle was telling of their view of the world. Instead of the religious men praising God in their midst they showed the opposite by their silence.
Lord help us to encounter you in the people and world around us, that we might recognize You in everyone with we encounter. Continue to give us hearts of gratitude that trust Your presence so that even in the ordinary, we see the miraculous.
- Deacon Michael Montgomery