Commentary on the Gospel of
In the first reading today we begin to recognize the power that faith can have in our lives; to heal, to direct us, to help us cope, to face challenges and to rejoice. Paul's presence with the crippled man shares the importance of truly being present to another and through our presence see another's struggles or in this case see the faith of another- as the crippled man is told "Stand up straight on your feet." While Paul saw the faith in this man and called forth his faith, not all in the crowd understood that Paul's "healing of another" came through God and not Paul, the human man. The Psalms today then address this issue. "Not to us, O Lord, but to your name give the glory."
Many times, in my role as the Chaplain for Creighton's School of Medicine I am thanked for counseling another or for taking action for someone. The Responsorial Psalm is a direct reminder, to me, that while we have all been given gifts and opportunities to use our gifts we need to be mindful of where these gifts originated from: God. It can be a very humbling experience to know that you have had a positive impact on someone's life and to recognize that God has worked through you. Some of my greatest faith experiences have been in seeing the impact that someone has had on another and then to hear them verbally express that it was through the grace of God, or due to the gifts given to them by God, that allowed them to impact another.
