Calendars get full. But when someone interrupts your plans, Joe Laughlin, SJ suggests that your response might say as much about your heart as your schedule. Based on the readings for the 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time.
HEY! LOOK OVER HERE! I’M INTERRUPTING YOU!
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I HATE being interrupted.
When I’m rushing out the door, and one of my Jesuit brothers says, “Hey, can I ask you something?” I just want to bulldoze through the conversation as quick as I can.
In today’s Gospel, a woman interrupts Jesus. She begs him to cure her daughter of demons.
Jesus and his disciples don’t love the interruption. Her desperation is annoying, like a dog jumping up at the table during dinner.
But she just keeps asking… “Lord, help me.”
Eventually, Jesus sees her stubbornness for what it is: “Great is your faith”
Let’s pray today to be able to see interruptions like Jesus did, with the eyes of faith.
So here’s a little litmus test for where our hearts are at:
If someone interrupts me today, will I see them as a problem to get past… or a person to love?