Dear Parishioners of the Windsor Heritage Catholic Family of Parishes,
Firstly, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for your prayers for my brother, Brian. I know it was announced last weekend at some of the Masses that he had collapsed while running a half marathon. Many of you have asked me this week how he is doing, so I figured I would provide an update here.
As it turns out, the reason Brian collapsed was because he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest during the race. Thanks be to God, two nurses who were also running the race, and who saw him go down, stopped to start administering CPR. They were very quickly joined by police and EMS, who hooked him up to an automated external defibrillator, and were able to save his life. Had the pieces not fallen into place as they did, the end result would likely have been very different. We’re all incredibly grateful that he is now out of the hospital, and expected to make a full recovery.
There’s a powerful lesson here about caring for others in their moment of need- and it’s a lesson that we find in today’s Gospel as well. The man that Jesus heals in today’s Gospel does not come to Jesus himself. Rather, other members of the community, who know the struggles the man is facing, decide to do something to ease his suffering. They bring the man to Jesus, and Jesus heals him. Do we look out for others in our life, who may be in need of help, care, or support? Are we willing to help them, just as the people in our Gospel did?
There’s also something different about the way in which Jesus instructs the man and his companions to respond to this healing. He tells them to not tell anyone about it. On the surface this seems strange, because any time something good happens, we want to share the good news, and we want to celebrate those who have brought about good. But for Jesus, the important thing is not the spectacle of the healing, but the impact it has on the man’s life. This man’s life was forever changed by his encounter with Jesus: and the way he lives out the rest of his life as a response to that encounter is far more important than pointing to Jesus as the healer. Do we allow our lives to be changed when we encounter Jesus? Do we recognize his presence when we encounter others in our life? Do we live so as to respond to his love?
This response to God’s love is part of our mission as believers. By now, you’ve probably heard us talk about Bishop Fabbro’s vision for the Diocese, which calls us to be a mission oriented Church, that forms Disciples of Jesus. Over the next several weeks, we are going to be sharing more information from the Diocese about this vision. Keep an eye on our website and Facebook pages for updates. May God bless you throughout this coming week.
In Christ,
Fr. Steven Huber, CSB