Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time

Despite plenty of poor widows and lepers among the “chosen people,” God had helped Gentiles by sending the prophet Elijah to a poor widow in Sidon and directing a Syrian leper to Elisha for healing. When Jesus mentioned that bit of history, infuriated people in His hometown synagogue wanted to throw the carpenter’s son off a cliff! On the other hand, believers pressed toward Jesus on the shore of Lake Gennesaret (the Sea of Galilee) until He got into Peter’s boat to teach the crowd. Afterward, when the Lord suggested going fishing, Peter pointed out that the best time had come and gone. Fish filled the nets, and Peter acknowledged his sinful conceit. Pharisees observed that Jesus’ followers had become lax about fasting and violated the Sabbath by picking heads of grain to eat on a walk. In deciding how to practice our faith, how do we pick what to do?