Scripture:
Isaiah 40:25-31
Matthew 11:28-30
Reflection:
Though young men faint and grow weary,
and youths stagger and fall,
They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength,
they will soar as with eagles’ wings;
They will run and not grow weary,
walk and not grow faint. -Isaiah 40:30-31
Recently, a good friend sent several visuals that spoke to me and to many of the people to whom I forwarded them. One picture of an abandoned, emaciated two-year-old child being coaxed to take nourishment from a woman of a different tribe especially spoke to my heart. Alongside that visual was another picture of that same child sometime later who was now healthy and in the arms of that same beautiful compassionate woman who eventually adopted him.
What I find so mesmerizing in this vision is that it’s not a big powerful healthy, beautiful, well-clothed, prosperous, executive (something I once thought I wanted to be) who moves my heart. No, it’s the (and I’m crying as I write this) weak, needy, malnourished, little baby reaching out for love that moves me. Hallelujah! God sends this woman, an aid worker, who responds with love, and voila, we have new life. In all our great deeds (no doubt there are many), and with all the money our world spends on weapons of mass destruction and instruction (trillions and trillions) I never have felt so much hope.
God, help me gratefully respond to the gifts (the poor, the needy, the marginalized, the powerless…) you send me today and “to run and not grow weary” as Isaiah tells us to do in today’s scripture selection and as the lady mentioned above so well demonstrated.
Dan O’Donnell is a Passionist Partner and a longtime friend of the Passionists. He lives in Chicago.