Across the Pastor’s Desk by Kurt Ferrell

The Rev. Kurt Farrell is at St. Theodore Catholic Church.

“Comfort, give comfort to my people says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.”   

In this Scripture verse from the prophet Isaiah we hear the prophecy of the Messiah. When he came he was to bring with him glad tidings to the lowly, he was to heal the brokenhearted, he was to proclaim liberty to captive and release to prisoners, he was to comfort all those who mourn and give them oil of gladness in place of them mourning.  Jesus is the Messiah who brings fulfillment to this prophecy, but he expects to use our hands and feet to do it. 

I often listen to the cries of the poor, and those who suffer, and I am surprised that such poverty could exist in a country so abundant in wealth. I think sometimes the social problems in our country, such as illegal immigration, oftentimes cloud our obligation to help the cry of the poor.  As a Christian, we are not to ask for identification of legal residency before we feed a hungry child or stop to console a crying mother. 

Our obligation to the poor and suffering transcends boundaries and borders.  Jesus is still in our midst, fulfilling the prophecy of old, and he is using his disciples to carry out his mission. The question is, are we a part of his mission or a part of the problem?