Flash Forward | June 5, 2016

June 5, 2016

I never really thought that much about widowhood before my dad died. I mean I definitely felt for women or men who lost their spouses to death, and being a divorced person myself, I know what it feels like to all of a sudden sleep alone each night, but I never really had a special place in my heart for widows until my mom became one. I moved into the cottage that our family built for my grandparents in my parent’s backyard a few months before dad died, not realizing that dad was actually dying, of course. At first it felt strange, like I was just a visitor, and then slowly but surely I knew I was there for a deeper purpose and that God’s handprint was somehow all over this endeavor. Today’s gospel hit a chord deep inside my soul and it shed some light on that deeper purpose.

A large crowd surrounded Jesus and his apostles as usual, but he saw a dead man being carried out of the city, the only son of a mother that had already been widowed, and it says that he was “moved with pity.” Do you think he was possibly flashing forward to his own death of the only son of his widowed mother? This might have been the actual scene that inspired Jesus’ own soul to make sure that his mom was taken care of after his death…”John, behold your mother and mother behold your son.” (John 19:27) Whenever I have been “moved to pity” it literally feels like a hand on my back physically pushing me toward whatever situation has touched my heart and I just picture Jesus dropping everything to walk over to this grieving woman. He knows that she will be destitute without a man to take care of her based on Middle Eastern culture and the soft spot in his heart, in God’s heart, for widows pushes him into miraculous action. Raise your hand if you have ever witnessed miraculous things because of someone’s soft heart.

He raises her son from the dead right there in the street and, of course, it freaked everyone out. Imagine any funeral you have ever been to with a casket present and then imagine the dude in the casket sitting up and start talking to everyone! Yeah, you’d freak too!!!! Jesus knew that this widow needed her son in order to thrive, in order to survive. I guess that’s why today’s gospel strikes that chord in me because I feel like my deepest purpose right now is to be there for my widowed mom so that she can navigate through her grieving, so that she doesn’t have to feel alone and destitute, and that I too can understand that we are not meant to be alone, we need each other to survive.

I hope that today will give us a chance to soften our hearts to the things that soften God’s heart and that we will all be moved toward mercy and compassion for those that need it most. Have a blessed day.

Reading 1 1 KGS 17:17-24

Elijah went to Zarephath of Sidon to the house of a widow.
The son of the mistress of the house fell sick,
and his sickness grew more severe until he stopped breathing.
So she said to Elijah,
“Why have you done this to me, O man of God?
Have you come to me to call attention to my guilt
and to kill my son?”
Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.”
Taking him from her lap, he carried the son to the upper room
where he was staying, and put him on his bed.
Elijah called out to the LORD:
“O LORD, my God,
will you afflict even the widow with whom I am staying
by killing her son?”
Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times
and called out to the LORD:
“O LORD, my God,
let the life breath return to the body of this child.”
The LORD heard the prayer of Elijah;
the life breath returned to the child’s body and he revived.
Taking the child, Elijah brought him down into the house
from the upper room and gave him to his mother.
Elijah said to her, “See! Your son is alive.”
The woman replied to Elijah, 
“Now indeed I know that you are a man of God.
The word of the LORD comes truly from your mouth.”

Responsorial Psalm PS 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13

R. (2a) I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world;
you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts but a moment;
a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in,
but with the dawn, rejoicing.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;
O LORD, be my helper.
You changed my mourning into dancing;
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Reading 2 GAL 1:11-14A, 15AC, 16A, 17, 19

I want you to know, brothers and sisters,
that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin.
For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it,
but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

For you heard of my former way of life in Judaism,
how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure
and tried to destroy it, and progressed in Judaism
beyond many of my contemporaries among my race.
But when God, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart
was pleased to reveal his Son to me,
so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles,
I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus.

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem
to talk with Cephas and remained with him for fifteen days.
But I did not see any other of the Apostles,
only James the brother of the Lord.

Alleluia LK 7:16

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
A great prophet has risen in our midst
God has visited his people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 7:11-17

Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain,
and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him.
As he drew near to the gate of the city,
a man who had died was being carried out,
the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.
A large crowd from the city was with her.
When the Lord saw her,
he was moved with pity for her and said to her,
“Do not weep.”
He stepped forward and touched the coffin;
at this the bearers halted,
and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!”
The dead man sat up and began to speak,
and Jesus gave him to his mother.
Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, crying out
“A great prophet has arisen in our midst, “
and “God has visited his people.”
This report about him spread through the whole of Judea
and in all the surrounding region.