Tuesday, 24h Week in Ordinary Time, September 19, 2023

Father Rick’s Two-Minute Homily for Tuesday, 24th Week in Ordinary Time September 19, 2023, Luke 7:11-17 https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/tuesday-twenty-fourth-week-ordinary-time

“I Command You; Get Up!” 

My heart goes out to parents who lost a child in death! It is devastating, and the sorry seems never to go away. Yet, we may know a friend who is as good as dead, perhaps from despair or loss of meaning in their lives. Have you reached out to someone like this and could not get through? It leaves an empty feeling in your heart. 

Welcome to the world of Jesus. The emptiness we experience is a doorway to Jesus’ compassion for our friend. Jesus reached out to the widow’s son’s coffin and touched it. That was a taboo in His culture. That gesture made Him unclean. But He did it anyway.  

Perhaps we need to ask him for so much compassion on someone we can’t help that Jesus will reach out through us and tell the person we carry in our hearts, “Rise! Get up!”  

Don’t be afraid to experience the depth of your helplessness to help someone. And don’t give up. Sometimes, we must suffer with someone and feel the depth of that person’s pain ourselves. Jesus can’t help but respond to so much love because He sees Himself in us. 

Gospel Challenge:

Have courage, my friend. Suffering with someone always comes before healing. Who will we have compassion today that will help them hear Jesus say, “I command you? Get up!

Ignite the Fire

Fr. Rick Pilger, I.C.

Pastor

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