Jesus went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him.
When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
When social justice lawyer and activist Bryan Stevenson came to our college, he spoke into a crowded gymnasium of students, faculty and staff. Like Jesus in the Gospel who calls Levi to “follow me,” Bryan called to us to get “proximate” that day.
Getting “proximate,” according to Bryan, is moving close to the dark places of our society where people are in need of our healing light of truth and hope. Like Levi being called to join the disciples and sit and eat with other sinners, we are each called to bring light to the ones who are far away and in the dark.
Retreat teams of the Jesuit Restorative Justice Initiative visit the Monroe Correctional Complex in Washington State where we gather with the incarcerated men for prayer and a midday meal. We listen and share from our hearts in small groups together. We “get proximate” to one another as we seek forgiveness, healing, and the release from what imprisons us.
In Ordinary Time, each of us is called to visit the dark places and circumstances that need the light of Jesus, to “begin the work of Christmas,” as Howard Thurman writes,
“To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among all,
To make music in the heart.”
How are you called to follow, to get “proximate” today? What needs your healing light of hope and truth? In what ways do you seek freedom and release?
—Carla Orlando coordinates Spiritual Direction Services for the Ignatian Spirituality Center in Seattle.
There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soul.
Sometimes I feel discouraged,
And think my work’s in vain,
But then the Holy Spirit
Revives my soul again.
There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soul.
—Traditional African-American spiritual
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Ignatian spirituality reminds us that God pursues us in the routines of our home and work life, and in the hopes and fears of life's challenges. The founder of the Jesuits, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, created the Spiritual Exercises to deepen our relationship with Christ and to move our contemplation into service. May this prayer site anchor your day and strengthen your resolve to remember what truly matters.
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