There is a way

In today's Gospel (Luke 5:17-26), a small group of men finds a creative way to bring to Jesus a man in need of healing, overcoming many obstacles.

It is a reminder for us that we sometimes need to explore creative ways of bringing to Jesus individuals and even societies that need healing, overcoming obstacles such as cynicism, hedonism, and secularism.

It is easy to get discouraged. Today's world seems increasingly to be a spiritual desert: a moral wasteland, patrolled by human jackals and pseudo-intellectual predators seeking to waylay confused souls for their own purposes.

The words of today's first reading (Isaiah 35:1-10) give us hope:

The burning sands will become pools,
and the thirsty ground, springs of water;
The abode where jackals lurk
will be a marsh for the reed and papyrus.

A highway will be there,
called the holy way;
No one unclean may pass over it,
nor fools go astray on it.
No lion will be there,
nor beast of prey go up to be met upon it.

It is for those with a journey to make,
and on it the redeemed will walk.

As we continue our walk through this world, today's readings remind us that no matter what discouragement may afflict us or obstacles lie before us, God has a way.

Jesus said to him,
"I am the way

and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father
except through me."

(John 14:6)