As a priest, there are some Bible readings that are part of my life on a very frequent basis, due to the rites and the sacraments I celebrate as a priest. The Gospel we hear today is a part of the reading that we priests use for the sacrament of the anointing of the sick, so it is a reading that I often use. Sometimes, the wise and the learned think they have all the answers in society, yet often the answer is simple and right before our eyes. I remember that once one of my parishioners was telling me that their remote entry system for their car went out on them while they were at a football game. They tried to use the remote control to open the car, but nothing happened. The husband and wife looked at each other perplexed; they wondered out loud how they would get into the car, that they would have to contact a repair service for help. Their granddaughter looked at them and asked: Can’t you just use the key to get into the car? Everyone burst out laughing. We are so accustomed to our technology that we forget about the old-fashioned ways of doing things. Sometimes the solution is right before our eyes but we can’t see it.
I was listening to a podcast about the Eucharist in which the host asserted that we trying to complicate how we live out the Eucharist in our lives. He said that we are called to do simple works of mercy: visit the sick, reach out to the poor and the forgotten, feed the hunger, and visit the prisoner. But sometimes we think everything has to be complicated, we are the ones who make things complicated. We need to take it one day at a time, following Jesus as best we can, living out our lives as his disciples. But not just in world; also in actions.
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