In recent months, I have been amazed at the frequency and diversity with which expressions that end in “matter” appear on television or in print media. The phrases vary and include: “after school matters,” “home matters,” “better matters,” “minds matter,” “food matters,” “literacy matters.” Some of these expressions are a means of attracting attention and gaining a competitive edge. Others, in my opinion, are meant to awaken us to the importance of and need to cultivate the valued reality, such as “your mind matters.” So don’t waste it. When facets of life begin to multiply and try to edge out other facets of our experience, we do well to ask the deeper question: “What truly matters?” Asking that question this past week as Pope Francis arrived in Cuba and the United States, the answers that suggest themselves are clearly related to Francis’s message to the people and governments of Cuba and the U.S.

What truly matters? Faith. Hope. Relationship to God and to one another. Mercy. Forgiveness. Compassion. Joy. Trust. Humility. Justice. We need only to look back a week to the readings for Mass on the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time to see that indeed it does matter that we be willing to be servants of one another, especially of the “least among us.” Or, we can look to the reading from the Letter of Saint James for the 26th Sunday and hear the warning and judgment: “Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud.” All these virtues matter. They matter because they forge a world that recognizes the dignity and worth of each and every person. They matter because they point to the way God has directed us to live our lives in harmony with one another and in union with God’s desires for our world.

We have been blessed this week by the presence and testimony of Pope Francis. He has given us reason to be proud, and he has challenged us on multiple occasions to live our lives in fidelity to core values and virtues, not the least of which is the care of our brothers and sisters most in need. If all we come away with from his visit is a memory of a warm presence, a lovely smile, and outreach to the throng that came to see him, we will have missed his message. As his visit concludes, may we all pay attention to the deeply challenging messages that he offered us, and may we take steps day after day to respond to those challenges. What truly matters? It matters that relationship with God demands that we build lasting bridges with one another, bridges that acknowledge that I am my brother’s, my sister’s keeper. It matters that faith exacts action. It matters that I must pay attention to my relationship to God, to you, to the earth, and to myself. When I see and act in a way that reflects that reality, then all the other parts of life will fall into their rightful place.

~Sr. Kathleen

Take your next step: During the coming week, consider which of the virtues enumerated above you most need to cultivate in your life. Ask God to give the grace of that virtue to you and help you to live it richly and fully.

Have you noticed? Change can be uncomfortable. It can be unwelcome and life altering. I’ve noticed, and I don’t like it. I have been camping for years and thoroughly enjoyed being outdoors, delighting in the fresh air, the gifts of nature, the ability to let instincts instead of a clock dictate when to get up, when to eat, when to sit still or be on the move. I have just spent a week in the White Mountains sleeping on the ground, cooking over an open fire. At the end of the time there, my friend and I found ourselves saying: “This might have been the last time.” Nature is the same; but we are older, stiffer, slower to move. These are not welcome changes. We will need to find new ways to enjoy God’s gifts of creation.

The Gospel for this weekend tells the story of a person’s life being radically changed by Jesus’s engagement with him. People brought a deaf man whose speech was impeded to Jesus and asked him to lay hands on him. Jesus responded to their request, taking the man aside, touching his ears and tongue, and saying: “Be opened.” And they were opened. Imagine what that was like: being unable one minute to hear the sound of another’s voice, to hear the sounds of nature, to know when something is dangerously close or safely distant. Imagine what it is like to speak for the first time in a manner that people readily understand what you are saying. How would you respond to this double transformation? I expect I would be excited, enthused, grateful, and very much wanting to sing from the rooftops. And that is how the once-deaf man responds. Touched by Jesus, he will never be the same.

I have known any number of people in my life who have been touched by God, transformed really, and they have been hesitant to proclaim the greatness of God in their lives. They have felt awkward about seeming to call attention to themselves. Lost in this false humility, an opportunity to give honor and credit to God was ignored. The chance to make known God and God’s goodness was overlooked. The rite of baptism has a prayer in which the person’s ears and mouth are touched while the priest or deacon says: “The Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and the dumb speak. May he soon touch your ears to receive his word, and your mouth to proclaim his faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father.” The prayer makes clear that the word received as gift is meant to be shared through our proclamation of praise and glory to God. This is meant for all of us. We who have heard God’s word and been transformed by it are to praise and glorify God.

In the past, many of us have left the proclamation of the Good News to professional preachers and been content to do so. But that is not what our baptism calls us to do, nor is it what Jesus commanded us to do when he said: “Go and make disciples of all nations.” This is a change that can make us uncomfortable; but it is one we must respond to and act upon. There are many people we interact with who need our voice, who need to hear our testimony to the way in which God has touched and transformed our lives. Without our witness, they may never learn the multiplicity of ways that God invites us to come to know him. If we won’t share with others the goodness of God as we have experienced it, who will?

~Sr. Kathleen

Take your next step: Think about the ways in which God has touched your life and changed you. Consider what would help you to speak of the transforming impact God’s love has had for you. What would free you to be able to speak openly about your relationship with God?