Name: Normand Gouin
Title: Campus Minister for Music and Faith Formation
Department/College: Campus Ministry
Scripture of the Day: Hosea 14:2–10; Psalm 81, Mark 12:28–34
In today’s Gospel from Mark, we hear the familiar story of the scribe who approaches Jesus and asks, “Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus is quick to respond by quoting the Shema, the centerpiece of Jewish prayer: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone!” He goes further by offering another command, “…and to love your neighbor as yourself.”
These powerful words from Jesus beg us to ask the question, how can we do anything less than practice the command of Gospel love in any situation that threatens to divide us from one another?
The following story, which recently went viral on Twitter, recounts how one woman chose to follow these two great commandments:
Many people are too afraid to go into the grocery store during this pandemic. Rebecca Mehra learned this firsthand when she heard someone call to her as she headed toward the entrance.
“As I was walking in, I heard a woman yell to me from her car. I walked over and found an elderly woman and her husband. She cracked her window open a bit more, and explained, nearly in tears, that they are afraid to go in the store,” Ms. Mehra wrote.
“They are afraid to get sick as they are in their 80s and hear that the novel coronavirus is affecting older people disproportionately. They do not have family nearby to help them. Through the crack in the window, she handed me a $100 bill and a grocery list, and asked if I would be willing to buy her groceries. I bought the groceries and placed them in her trunk, and gave her back the change. She told me she had been sitting in the car for nearly 45 minutes before I had arrived, waiting to ask the right person for help,” she explained.
Ms. Mehra continued: “I know it is a time of hysteria and nerves, but offer to help anyone you can. Not everyone has a person they can reach out to for assistance.”
Compassion is catching.