The Mass readings today call me to practice patience. I’ll let the details about the people described in the Gospel float; reread it passively while concentrating on the mind and actions of Jesus. He left His native land and found Himself in a foreign country, the land of the Gadarenes. Why? He wanted salvation for all, not just the Jews. To do so, he had to confront—no, to fight—Satan. Has that agenda changed today? I’ll look around and see for myself. I claim I want to respond to his call to be his disciple, and so, how does what I see affect how I pray, how I act as a disciple?
When the local people saw what Jesus had done, they kindly asked him to leave so that they could live in peace with Satan. Again, the more things change, the more they remain the same.
In the first reading Amos tells me that God asks for honesty, for purity of intention in how I pray. But it is so easy to adopt, even slightly, the attitude of villagers who asked Jesus to give them a break and refrain from making so many strict demands. So. I’ll pray that the Lord will give me more purity of intention when I pray to him to be a better apostle.
Resolve: Today we celebrate the feast of St. Junipero Serra. I shall ask this great saint to pray that the Lord give me the same grace he was so generous in giving him to be an ideal apostle. I shall also ask him to bless in a special way the Hispanic people in our country.