"Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less."

Whether it is the gift of young age, or simply dumb luck (my money is on the latter) I have fortunately not only been able to remember the readings from the 13th Sunday of Ordinary time which was oh so long ago (June 28th). Now not only was I able to keep in mind what the reading where, with a guilty conciencse for having not written this reflection I kept them at the fore front of my mind.

The quote I have given this post comes from the second reading, from the letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians. This closing sentence of the reading really stuck with me. I assume this is because of the "plight" of the college student, and the common phrases that come along with it. I don't have any money, I don't have any time, I have all this homework to do, all these papers to write, all this debt to pay back. These are common phrases for the average college student. I think these last words given to us by Paul can really speak to these at times, struggling students. You have no money, yet enough for food, enough for shelter, enough for books, and school, even if it means borrowing. Like wise these words from Paul can encourage and raise up the spirit of the burdened student, yes of course you have debt, you have reading, you have papers, and homework, but even though you have all this, there are those that have more, more struggles, more burdens. These words echoed in my mind, as I both leave college, and return, from undergrad, to grad school, I will be shocked if these familiar phrases leave my vocabulary, I just hope that the words of Paul remain with me (something I never though I would say).

Now onto the Gospel where I am particularly glad that I not only neglected this post, but also remembered that it was this story from Mark (5:21-43), the woman suffering from hemorrhage, the woman with such tremendous faith only a single thought lingered, "My God what profound faith this woman had." Having suffered for so long her faith was not only present, it was persistent. So much so that she was on the road and had the thought, "If but I touch his clothes I shall be healed". What profound and tremendous faith this woman had. I was recently driving across the state to the Thumb, where I attended a wedding of dear friends, I traveled with another dear friend none other than Fr. Stan. On our drive back to Grand Rapids talking about what ever it is two people talk about to pass the time of a 3 hour car ride, there were numerous instances where we both needed something googled. This repeat occurrence of us having been right in our original guesses as to what I googled left me joking, "My God what did we do before google, just make something up, say it with enough conviction and trust one another?" It would seem that is precisely what we did. During conversations where questionable facts arose those talking must have come to logical conclusions, and simply trusted one another. Instead now we can check everything, which is a truly beautiful thing. I assume my friends who are "seeking truth" would especially agree that it is a wonderful thing. Yet at the same time I am left wondering, are we better off being able to prove one or another wrong, or right, or would we be better off being able to simply trust one another?

This is the question I leave you, would you rather be right, and be able to prove it, or have the potential of being wrong yet have a profound faith that allows you to trust?

Feel free to leave any answers in the comments.

Peace and Blessings Always

~M