Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

One of the blessings of being a parish priest is you get to meet and minister to people in various stages of life… from the baptism of an infant to the anointing of a dying elder. One of the saddest situations I face is when I am called to a person’s death bed for the last anointing of the sick and there is no family member or dear friend present to pray for and comfort the dying person. Loneliness and isolation can be cruel at any stage of life, but especially in the final hours.  

In the creation story from the Book of Genesis, God said it is not good for us to be alone.  That’s why the Lord gave us each other; that why God chose to come among us by assuming our human nature and becoming one of us in Jesus; that’s why Christ instituted marriage as a sacrament in service of the communion of the Church; and that’s why Christ gave us himself on the cross in the Eucharist so that we would not be alone, and would not allow others to be alone, especially as they carry their own cross in their journey home to God.  So let’s now celebrate the Eucharist and receive together our Holy Communion with the Lord and each other because we know it is not good for us to be alone.