Shorelines of the Spirit

Some of the Gospel readings  from Matthew over the last week or so have shown Jesus in a series of interesting situations. First, he hears about the execution of his cousin, John the Baptist.  He needs to get away,  to process this tragedy quietly in communion with his Father.  Undoubtedly he sees some frightening implications for his own future.   So he invites the apostles to "come away"  for a while,  to get away from the daily press of the crowds that are hungry for his words, his healing, his presence.  Yes, Jesus was fully the Son of God...but he was also fully human,  "like us in all things but sin",  as the Letter to the Hebrews says.  And so, like us, he needed some down time.   So off he goes with his close friends,  and when they arrive,  there are the crowds!   The people found another way to get to the same destination,  and he feels such compassion for them that he scraps his own plans.   He sees them as "sheep without a shepherd",  hapless, 

If these last five months have brought any single thing to all of us,  it's been....uncertainty. There's the uncertainty of how long the pandemic will last,  and if it will kick up again, and if it does,  how bad will it be?  Yes, in many places it's waning,  but we have those disturbing questions of what will happen if and when restrictions are lifted. There's the uncertainty of its effect on the economy,  on people's jobs and government benefits and mortgages and investments,  and most important, on their health. There's the uncertainty of  our necessary visits to supermarkets, banks, pharmacies:  even now,  with masks and social distancing and better statistics,  how safe is it? There's the uncertainty of the heroic essential worker who must brave the virus and arrive at his or her job, hoping that this will be another day free of infection. And for those who still work the front lines as first responders and health care personnel, there'