Numbers 12: 1-13; Psalm 51; Matthew 14: 22-36
Again, our readings can fit the feast of this simple French priest whom Pope Benedict has named patron of “The Year of the Priest.” John barely had the rudiments of doctrine when he was ordained, somewhat like Peter who began to walk on water simply because Jesus summoned him. John did walk on water, becoming so well known as a confessor that people flocked to his small parish in Ars. He received them in the confessional sometimes for 16 hours a day. The first reading is about Moses’ prayer that God heal his sister Miriam. The psalm is about the forgiveness of sin, and some lines are well worth memorizing:
Have mercy on me, O God, in your steady kindness….
A clean heart create in me and a faithful spirit put within me.
Do not cast me from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.
Thank God for priests who are trying to love well. Pray today for the healing of those who sin. Pray that the clerics among them might receive new hearts, brimming with the pastoral love Jesus himself. Pray that they may never finish learning Jesus Christ, and that they might honor Christ in each of us, who are also priests by reason of our baptism.
Have mercy on us, your church, O God. Give us new and loving hearts that we might faithfully mediate your love to all whom we meet, near and far neighbors.