Wednesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

There is an American Dominican sister who has been a missionary among poor villages in northern Nigeria for the past 40 years. One of her most successful community help programs involves inviting international surgeons to volunteer their skills to provide corrective surgery at local clinics for the many children who have rickets. This bone disease is due to vitamin deficiencies as well as genetics. The before-and-after pictures of some of these children tell the heart-warming story of children now having a fighting chance to live a normal productive life. We can imagine the joy of these children and their families, but also the joy of the surgeons who were able to help these children.

Can you name the similarities and the contrasts between the story of the Nigerian children and the Gospel story about the man with the withered hand? We can find an element of hope in the families and the children of Nigeria, and likewise real hope for the man with the withered hand.

But notice how the feeling in the community is very different. Everyone involved with the children was convinced that something good and wonderful was about to happen. We don’t get that feeling from the Gospel today. This was a test case, actually a trap set for Jesus. Because it was the Sabbath, if he chose to cure the man, they thought they had him. There was no compassion in the onlookers. Their hatred for Jesus blinded them to the needs of the person who was suffering.

This might be a good opportunity for each of us to examine whether our own agenda or even our worldview could blind and harden our hearts. Perhaps a good test of whether we have the mind and heart of Jesus is to observe if we can truly rejoice and celebrate someone’s release from pain, even if they are a stranger.

Reflection by Fr. Daniel Petsche, OSB