How the Light Gets In

This past weekend I visited close friends in St. Louis, as I do several times each year. I always look forward to attending mass at my former parish, St. Cronan, because I know I will be uplifted by the music, preaching, and commitment of the parishioners to living the Gospel in their daily lives.

On the Feast of Christ the King, St. Cronan has always focused on the healing aspect of Christ’s kingship. Usually, the anointing of the sick is offered. However, this year, to mark the end of the Year of Mercy, everyone was invited to come forward to be anointed with oil from Jerusalem in a commissioning to go forth and share God’s healing and mercy with others. As we were anointed, these words were spoken: "May Christ the Healer mend our hearts and help us to be mercy for others."

As I visited with friends, several mentioned how difficult Thanksgiving would be this year because of family fractures relating to the recent election. Fractures can carry their own graces, however, as when a plant pushes through the crack in a sidewalk or in a broken pot. As the recently deceased musician Leonard Cohen noted,

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in

Thanksgiving provides us with the opportunity to offer a space for healing by listening to others and not rejecting them because of their beliefs. At the Mount, we are praying that God’s mercy will flow and divisions will be mended through the light of Christ, the healer.