Jesus went around to all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness.
~ Matthew 9:35
Today we attended the funeral mass of a good friend whose son is a priest. The priest-son celebrated the mass and delivered a very touching homily. Fr. Ken spoke about a lot of things that resonated deeply with me.
He talked about the pain and sufferings that come with life: the death of his father, a broken marriage, a lost love, losing a job. And then, God works in His mysterious ways and turns those hard and difficult moments into joy and even outright blessings. Through his father’s death, Fr. Ken’s life and those of hi family have been blessed with so much consolation through the love of friends and family. A broken marriage works to make a person stronger and more sensitive to other people’s feelings. A lost love prepares a person to finally meet and accept his real love. A lost job merely opens the door to better and more opportunities.
In one brief moment of conceit, I imagined Fr. Ken picking up ideas from my blog. But no. We have encountered the same God. We have drunk from the same fountain of holiness and wisdom. We have been loved by the same magnificent God. Thus, we were singing the same song. We were proclaiming the same love. We were aching and reaching out to the one true God.
I do not need to save the world in some heroic manner. All I need to do is to love and share what I can with people I meet everyday. A hug or an embrace will not land in the papers or in the news; but it will relieve and lessen the pain of one person. A few dollars given to a needy person will not cause a financial ripple anywhere; but it will tide a person over and alleviate his hunger. Time spent with a lonely or distressed person will not change a situation; but it will help a person to hold on to dear life just a little bit longer.
This is how the Gospel of the Kingdom is proclaimed: ordinary, unheralded, shared with love and care.