Memorial of Saint Agnes, virgin and martyr
Hospital ministry is difficult and sometimes, there is a loss of words over what prayers might be offered. Sometimes when I prepare to pray with a family, I ask them “for what shall we pray?” The answers are sometimes surprising in that people say, pray for my family. When I ask if I can pray for the patient’s healing as well most will say yes. And we pray for patient and family. Like many of us, we put the needs of others before our own needs.
It is from this light I reflected upon the readings. Today’s gospel especially can seem to difficult to understand. If we had to place ourselves in this setting who would we be? Might we be the Pharisee reminding everyone of the importance of the Sabbath? The Sabbath is important, and we need people to remind us sometimes that we need to keep the Sabbath holy. Might we be a disciple getting something to eat because of the hunger we feel? Or are we like the Master who understands the law and yet sees the bigger picture? Like David before, Jesus knows people must eat. Jesus reminds those gathered the value of the human being.
This is a value we are still struggling to impress upon our society. The dignity of humanity means that we are pro-life. But I wonder if we consider just how deep we need to go in order to understand what the Church means by Pro-life. For starters, we are against abortion, and that is where many stop. When infant mortality for black babies is twice what it is for white families does that set off alarm bells? Pro-life means that we need to help the women who are pregnant have healthy babies, but how do we do that?
People need to eat, and it is hard to eat healthy if one lives in a food desert and has little access to transportation. They need education so they can get jobs. They need jobs that pay a living wage so they can afford to get health care. And if they can’t afford health care then we need to figure out a way to provide it so that their babies have a chance to live. The US. Bishops would go so far as to say we need to provide health care for all in the U.S. including undocumented immigrants. In short, we need to give dignity to all humanity.
Deacon Michael Montgomery