Tuesday 3 September 2024

Today is Tuesday the 3rd of September, the feast of Saint Gregory the Great, in the 22nd week of Ordinary Time. Paul Zach sings, ‘All Will Be Well’. When I am troubled By the sorrows I see When the weight of the world is heavy on me Come close and tell me "All will be well" When I am weeping Over what I have done When my heart was asleep to the love of the Son Savior, come tell me "All will be well" All will be, all will be, all will be well All will be, all will be well You promised all will be, all will be, I will be well All will be, all will bе well Oh, all will be well Whеn I am frightened Over what lies ahead And I wake in the night to the tremor of dread Draw near and tell me That all will be well Ooh, all will be, all will be, all will be well All will be, all will be well You promised all will be, all will be, I will be well All will be, all will be well Oh, You hold it all in the palm of Your hands All of our sorrow and all of our sin You hold the world and You're letting it spin In Your mercy, all things will be well Oh, all manner of things will be well Oh, all will be, all will be, all will be well All will be, all will be well You promised all will be, all will be, all will be well All will be, all will be well, yeah All will be well Oh, all will be well When I am nearing The end of my days Jesus calmed all of my fears with the sight of Your face Let me hear You tell me Tell me that all will be well Tell me all will be well Oh, all will be well Ooh, all will be well Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke. Luke 4:31-37 He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath. They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Let us alone! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ When the demon had thrown him down before them, he came out of him without having done him any harm. They were all amazed and kept saying to one another, ‘What kind of utterance is this? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!’ And a report about him began to reach every place in the region. Sometimes people might read the gospels as if everything were scripted and happened according to a prearranged plan. Another possibility is that Jesus is impressively unperturbed by interruptions . . . How many times do we hear that he is teaching or healing and there is a challenging intrusion from someone else who is possessed or angry at Jesus? . . . Jesus is never thrown by interruptions. Never unnerved. Never bamboozled! He keeps his cool. What do you think of this quality in Jesus? . . . As you listen again, imagine how Jesus responds to this interruption to his teaching . . . It has been said that if you want to make God laugh, why not tell him your plans! Enjoy the unflappable calm of Jesus! You might ask him for some share of it . . . Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.