Reflection for the 15th Sunday of the Year

Zits is the daily newspaper comic strip that chronicles the angst of being a teenager- and being the parents of teenagers. In a strip I looked at again recently, 15-year-old Sara is having a bad hair day.

“God! I hate my hair!” Sara screams. “I swear, I should just cut it off and start all over!”

Her mother calmly suggests, “That’s a great idea, Sara! I know some people who would like to have it.”

“Ha! Are you kidding? Who would want to be stuck with a whole head of this stuff?” Sara demands to know, pointing to her unruly do.

Mom hands Sara a brochure for “Locks of Love,” an organization that makes wigs for kids with cancer. “Wow, this is so amazing” Sara says, as she reads the pamphlet. “So this ‘Locks of love’ organization would use my hair lo make wigs for kids with cancer?” Yeah her mom explains. “That way-your problem becomes somebody else’s solution.”  Sara is deeply moved by the pictures and stories in the brochure. Humbled and a little embarrassed, Sara becomes very quiet and thoughtful for what seems like an eternity.

“Are you okay, Sara?” Mom finally asks.

Sara says quietly, “I think I’m having a maturity moment.”

Thomas Merton wrote that a child only begins to become an adult when the child realizes he or she is not the centre of the universe. Christ calls us to embrace such moments of “maturity” – precious moments when we  manage to put aside our own needs, problems and wants for the sake of the more critical needs of ‘another; rare moments when we realize that we are not the centre of the world but a part of a world much greater than ourselves, that we are connected to everyone through the dignity we all share as sons and daughters of God; holy moments when our disappointments  and hurts at what life has handed us are transformed ‘into gratitude to God for the gift of life itself.

Jesus in today’s gospel sends forth the Twelve not to organize or rule or dominate but to heal, comfort and encourage, today he sends us out from the church to do the same. As Christ sends us forth “to do the work of discipleship, May he open our hearts and ‘minds to such “maturity moments,” enabling us to be disciples of his compassion and healing along our journeys to the dwelling place of God.  As we make our own journey from this world to the next, may we heal the broken and help the stumbling we meet along our way in faithfulness to the God who heals us and helps us up when we stumble and fall.