The Gospel for The memorial of St. Vincent de Paul Priest is taken from Luke 9:43, 45th verse. While they were all amazed at his every deed, Jesus said to his disciples, pay attention to what I’m telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men. But they did not understand this saying. Its meaning was hidden from them so that they should not understand it.

But they were afraid to ask him about this saying. There’s a line in scripture that says Jesus is often the stumbling block because people can’t fathom the reality of who he really is. And he’s revealing to us the doubt in his disciples over and over again. And what I believe it’s there for is so that we can understand that we alone cannot do the work of belief in something as awesome as who Jesus really is. God incarnate. God living inside of us.

It’s something we have to make a decision about one way or the other. And often we don’t. We just kind of let it slide and don’t really have to ponder the fullness of its meaning. Please ponder these images in your heart. And when the music ends, I will close with a prayer. Closing prayer.

Father created us a space, a place where we can be still and listen to who you really are in our life. You’re more than a story. You’re more than a promise. You’re a person, a power, a presence that we are invited to become. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.