Is It Odd or Is It God?!?!?

Is it ODD or is it GOD?

Tonight, I browsed the University of Notre Dame website. Upon my discovery, I found the within their website, another website, http://www.pray.nd.edu/.

I was amazed to read how today's Gospel, reflection and closing prayer discussed the topic of dreams! Thank you, Holy Spirit, for offering me this opportunity! Thank you for directing my heart to this website!

Pasted below is what I discovered! May you be inspired and spiritually moved as I!

In Christ's unconditional love and peace --

Kris


Gospel Reading of the Day June 27, 2008

"When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; and there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” Mt 8: 1-4

Living the Gospel Today June 27, 2008

Back in the fifteenth century, in a tiny village near Nuremberg, lived a family with eighteen children. To keep food on the table, the father worked eighteen hours a day. Two of the boys desperately wanted to attend the art academy, yet they knew their father could not support them.

Unwilling to surrender the dream, the brothers worked out a pact. They would toss a coin. The loser would go down into the nearby mines and with his earnings he would support his brother’s schooling. Then when that brother who won the toss completed his studies, he would support the other brother at the academy. They tossed a coin on a Sunday morning after church. Albrecht Durer won the toss and went off to Nuremberg.

His brother Albert went down into the dangerous mines and for the next four years he financed his brother, whose work at the academy was almost an immediate sensation. Albrecht’s etchings, his woodcuts, and his oils were far better than those of most of his professors. By the time he graduated, he was beginning to earn considerable fees for his commissioned works.
When the young artist returned to his village, he arranged a celebration. At the dinner, he thanked his beloved brother for the years of sacrifice. His closing words were, “And now, Albert, blessed brother of mine, now it is your turn. Now you can go to Nuremberg to pursue your dream, and I will support you.” But Albert said softly, “No, brother. I cannot go to Nuremberg. It is too late for me. Look … look what four years in the mines have done to my hands! I cannot even hold a glass to return your toast, much less make delicate lines on parchment or canvas with a pen or a brush. No, brother … for me it is too late.”

More than 450 years have passed. Today Albrecht Durer’s hundreds of masterful art pieces hang in every great museum in the world. Countless reproductions of his art adorn people’s homes and offices. To pay homage to Albert for all that he had sacrificed, Albrecht Durer painstakingly drew his brother’s abused hands with palms together and thin fingers stretched skyward. He called his powerful drawing simply “Hands.” The entire world almost immediately opened their hearts to his great masterpiece and renamed his tribute of love “The Praying Hands.”

This story of dreams, compassion, and love parallels many of the interactions of Jesus in the scriptures. Remember the man plagued by leprosy who beseeches Jesus to cure him. This affliction was not just a dreaded health problem; it was also a dreaded social disease. Tortured by years of suffering and disfigurement and confronted by an early death, lepers were also ostracized by Jewish law. The Jews believed that God himself had laid down the harsh conditions of a leper’s lot. They were all considered persistent sinners.

The Leper, like the Durer brothers, holds to a dream. Would Jesus value this man who had to cover his mouth with a hand and shout out a warning of his “unclean” condition? Would the Lord come close to him? “Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’” At that moment the leper returned from death – from hopeless isolation, bankrupt self-esteem, and devastating physical pain.
Today let’s remember who waits to touch us – regardless of our spiritual shortcomings and physical burdens. Our Lord walks next to us with his embracing compassion. Let us show our gratitude by receiving His mercy; let us be Christ to the disguised lepers who need us to draw close.

Kathleen M. Sullivan, '82MA'87PhDNotre Dame Alumni Associationsullivan.6@nd.edu


Today's Prayer June 27, 2008

The Gospel reading for today presents Jesus as one who freely gives healing and comfort to a man cursed with leprosy. Such a person could not live with his family, must leave his home, must wander and beg for food. He will ask the Savior not for money or food, but for healing: it is granted.

Let us pray: We come before you, Lord, our hearts at times almost smothered with selfishness, unkindness, foolish arguments with loved ones, and much more of the same. But to learn that we can find forgiveness, find hope, that we can turn our lives around to sincere love, to courage in honesty with ourselves, and to live with trust in the Lord’s providence is a wonderful gift. “If you wish Lord, you can make me clean.” “I do wish it. Be made clean!”

Rev. William Simmons, CSC