Walking with Jesus: 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Numbers 11:25-29; James 5:1-6; Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 The readings today ask us to reflect on groups of people or even the individuals we have a difficult time understanding, helping or responding to ... including the ones who create a great deal of animosity within each of us. For the first 23 years of my priesthood I was a teacher and, later on, an administrator in Catholic high schools. Did I have favorite students? Definitely. I also had difficult ones. Sometimes I was able to see that their backgrounds, health and student ways led to their problems in the classroom. I frequently tell the story of one with whom I had the most difficulty: He was consistently disruptive in class, didn’t use his gifts for learning and only occasionally did homework. I was inwardly pleased when he was absent for class. One day I ate humble pie: He was the first student to enter class and said, “Hiya Padre, how are you today?” I responded, “My sinuses are killing me.” The immediate thought I had was th...