There is no obstacle in life that is new or unique to our own place and time. The Saints, through the work of the Holy Spirit, offer us a chance through their lives and experience, to prepare ourselves for everything that life throws at us, if we only had the patience to listen to their coaching!

I find myself asking through all of this, what has to happen for things to change and get back on the right track? What perfect speech or words offered by our politicians or religious leaders, is going to penetrate the hearts of the world and cause them to repent? What new policies or laws can be enacted that will cause everyone to get behind them and move on towards unity? The answer to these questions is “none of the above”, because Human division, whether it is from race, ethnicity, or political differences, will only come to an end from within.

Just as with the past centuries, the world’s understanding of the Son of God has been recast to be just about anything they want Him to be. He just may a great social reformer to some; or maybe a philosopher to others. Many may not even give the Son of God much thought at all. And still the question asked by Jesus to St. Peter is just as important to our understanding today as it was nearly two thousand years ago: “Who do you say that I am?” (Matt. 16:15)

“She stopped bearing water…and became a bearer of God.”

For the world who has been consumed by the ins and outs of this pandemic, waiting for a doctor or scientist to come in and “save the day”…how are we any different than the paralytic in the Gospel, who spent his life waiting for mankind to suddenly come to his rescue?