WHITE HOUSE JESUIT RETREAT

St. Louis, MO 63129

1-800-643-1003

Jesuit retreat center high on the bluffs of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, MO.  Since 1922, thousands of people from around the world make annual three-day silent, guided retreats here to relax, reconnect with God and strengthen their spirituality.  A true gem in the Midwest!  Call 314-416-6400 or 1-800-643-1003.  Email reservations@whretreat.org  7400 Christopher Rd.  St. Louis, MO 63129

Both men's and women's retreats are offered as well as recovery retreats.

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Weekend Reflections for 9/7/18

September 06, 2018  /  Joe Parisi

Lord, I Believe in You, Help my Disbelief

Notice how Jesus responds to people who bring someone to him for healing. In this Sunday’s Gospel we see this with the cure of the death/mute man.  Some other examples are the four men who lower their crippled friend down through the roof of a house in order to get him in front of Jesus for his attention and care; there is the cure of the Roman centurion’s servant; there is Jesus’ somewhat reluctant cure of a non-Jew, the Syrophoenician girl.  In each instance Jesus is moved by the manifest and earnest faith of the afflicted person’s petitioners.

What does this say or teach to us? Jesus obviously wants us to show our love and concern for those who are need of healing and relief.  Moreover Jesus has told us to ask in order to receive, to seek in order to find, to knock so that the door will be open for us. But we also know that Jesus does not always respond as we would like or are asking. In these instances, as in so much of our faith life and in our understanding of God’s ways, we are asked to have faith and trust in God’s way and plan.

What often helps me in accepting and understanding God’s ways is a comment  made by a Jesuit brother in a Christmas homily. It was on Luke’s gospel describing the birth of Christ in the manger. My friend simply said that if you truly believe that this newborn babe is the son of God then everything else (regarding  the truths of our faith) is a piece of cake.

God calls us to be caring and concerned for one another, as God has been for us in Jesus. God wants us to rejoice that Christ is our Lord and our brother.   I do believe that Jesus began his human life as a baby wrapped in swaddling close and that manger.  Lord help me to make that leap of faith to be so trusting and believing in the other mysteries of my life with and in you.