Today’s Genesis reading and the healing encounters from Matthew’s gospel confound what we normally think of as the “order of nature.” God intervenes in the lives of Abraham and Sarah by promising them a son. This news prompts elderly Sarah to let out a hearty laugh. And, in the healing section of Matthew 8, Jesus cures the Centurion’s paralyzed son, releases the fever of Peter’s mother-in-law, and brings healing to many others who were possessed and otherwise afflicted.

Spiritual writers remind us that possession of various sorts and illness of all kinds are part of our daily experience. And, in ways less dramatic than we read in Scripture, Jesus invites us to carry forward his healing actions in our daily personal outreach. We see such dedication in a mother’s selfless care for her paralyzed child, a family’s patient watch over a dying grandparent, parents’ sleepless vigil until their fearless young adult stumbles home from a long night out….and the list goes on.

In God’s plan we work out our salvation, we find our redemption within the ordinary tasks and events of our daily routine…at home and work and around the neighborhood. Embedded in that daily faithfulness are moments of grace, invitations to selflessness, and the lived experience of walking at the Lord’s side, even when we might least expect we are doing so. Go for it!

—the Jesuit prayer team