One of the first graduate courses I took at Notre Dame was taught by the now-retired Bishop Robert Morneau of Green Bay, Wisconsin. It was called Faith in Fiction and we spent our time together studying writers like Flannery O’Connor and poets like the Carmelite nun, Jessica Powers. But one of the first poems the good Bishop used in class was about today’s Gospel readings. It was written by the late Ruth Mary Fox and offers a great challenge to each of us.
Into the hillside country Mary went
Carrying Christ.
And all along the road the Christ she carried
Generously bestowed his grace on those she met.
But she had not meant to tell she carried Christ
She was content to hide his love for her.
But about her glowed such joy that into stony hearts
Love flowed
And even to the unborn John, Christ’s love was sent.
Christ, in the sacrament of love each day, dwells in my soul
A little space.
And then as I walk life’s crowded highways
Jostling men who seldom think of God
To these, I pray, that I may carry Christ
For it may be
Some may not know of him
Except through me.
As we watch the news and see the violence, bigotry, and unbridled enthusiasm for ignorance and dishonesty on both sides of the proverbial aisle, we are challenge this week to ask ourselves this important question:
“How will we carry Christ this week?”