The Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“Blessed are you who are poor.” Lk.:17
Powerlessness.
That’s the “blessing,” today’s gospel is talking to us about. It’s the blessing we receive when we face walls we can’t surmount anymore.
Perhaps we lose the savings of a lifetime and all our retirement plans that went along with them. Or we develop a chronic ailment that will seriously limit our ability to live the way we’ve known.
Personally, I am now seriously limited by what is known in the medical world as Essential Tremor Disorder.
When I discussed this disorder with a medical specialist, he told me that “Whenever the medical world uses the word ‘essential’, it means we don’t have a clue as to what causes it! It’s a genetic condition that runs in families.”
This particular condition involves a significant amount of shakiness in one or both of a person’s hands. It can also affect, I am told, a continual shaking in a person’s neck.
I now have this condition in both of my hands, especially my primary writing hand. And while I’ve had this affliction for some time, I’ve been fortunate to keep it largely under under control. I’m told my older brother had to quit playing the piano due to the same issue. Now, unfortunately, this familial disorder has apparently reached a severe stage in my life.
As a result, my ability to type with any degree of competence has declined to the stage of significant disruption – which may sadly result in the cessation of these Reflections.
If so, this will be a considerable loss for me because it has been a form of personal prayer that required me to dig deeply into Sacred Scriptures and attempt – however inadequately – to understand as clearly as possible, and to share with others, the sacred Word of God!
I’ve truly found this work to be immensely enriching on a personal level.
For me, this disorder has become increasingly obvious, and is quickly reaching the point of dominating many aspects of my life. If it worsens significantly, and I should know with some precision within the next few weeks or so, it will represent a monumental loss in my life.
And that is an understatement!
My singular hope now is to find in this experience of utter powerlessness the hidden “blessing” that today’s Gospel promises – namely, the gift of being saved from self-centeredness, and from the sickness of any kind of arrogance. Meanwhile, I will be seeking the best advice possible.
Please pray for me.
If worse comes to worse, this terrible loss, and the profound sadness that will accompany it, hopefully will open other doors of access that will make me a more profound listener to and hearer of the Word of God.
It also, of course, will represent for each of you, the kind and faithful recipients of this weekly message, the potential loss of another kind.
Fortunately, there are a plethora of many enriching and valuable scriptural resources available these days. My sincere wish is that you will continue to take advantage of all these means of deepening your life of faith!
May God continue to bless each of you with a multitude of blessings! Please keep me in your prayers as I try to come to appreciate this “blessing” of powerlessness by seeking whatever help is available – and accepting the “blessing” of the reality if none is!
“Blessed are you who are poor.”
Ted Wolgamot, Psy. D.
P.S. Next Sunday’s Gospel, the 7th Sunday, was written before this one with only a minimum of difficulty. Since then, the problem has increased significantly! Please know how much I have appreciated your many thoughts and prayers through the years. Please pray now for my grief over this potential loss.
May God bless you and keep you and make each of you His very own!
Ted
