On Thursday, June 11, here in Haiti, we celebrated the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. We were very blessed to have Mass and a Eucharistic Procession around our mission compound. Fr. Maurice carried Jesus and, as we approached the main gate and opened it, he blessed all of Haiti and the world to be healed of the coronavirus.

Today, we celebrate the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time. We are invited to look deeper into the history of salvation and our own personal history of walking with God at this moment. During these months of the coronavirus and seeing how it gets worse everyday here, we often can get caught up in our present sufferings and lose an awareness of where God is leading us. Always God is leading us to encounter His divine presence.

In the Gospel we hear today, Jesus speaks about proclaiming the Kingdom of God at hand. It means that the Kingdom of God is the presence of God in the world. We see Him in so many places here…

…in the sick and suffering…

…in all His people.

So when Jesus sees that lots of people are looking for God and want to follow Him, Jesus tells us the harvest is abundant. Yes, even during this pandemic in Haiti, people are looking for God; and now, unfortunately, we cannot go and visit them, or welcome them into our mission home because of the quarantine everywhere. This is a new kind of suffering on our way to discovering the Kingdom.

How are we to proclaim the Kingdom now in this situation? The call to mission today is prayer. We pray for the cure and healing of those with the virus; for those who have died; for those who have nothing, especially no food for the day.

Answer the door and respond to the need before you, whether it is for some rice and beans or whatever the need for assistance may be. We ask the Holy Spirit to give us the vision to see how God is present in our midst right now. May we have the power to ask for God’s healing, for the life of those who are dying, for freedom from demons.

O God, strength of those who hope in you, graciously hear our pleas and, since without you mortal frailty can do nothing, grant us always the help of your grace that, in following your commands, we may please you by our resolve and our deeds. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.