Often enough, walking down a Chicago street, I’m approached or stopped by a person who asks me for something – money, food, soap. Sometimes I hear their words; other times I’m absorbed in my own world, my own small anxieties. I don’t hear their request as one of a sibling, as one of Jesus speaking to me.

Jesus calls us to hear and act.

We make an act of faith, an act of love, when we do.  Jesus asks us to hear his word – often after the Resurrection, his word is “peace.” If we are to also be a mother of Jesus, to bring birth to him in the world, we need to share him in places and with people where peace is not present.

For prayer, ask Jesus to offer you his Spirit, to act as a carrier of his peace and concrete loving care to those you encounter.

 —Michael Tedone, S.J., a Jesuit of the California Province, is studying philosophy at Loyola University Chicago.