Today’s first reading reports an extraordinary day in the life of Abraham and Sarah.  In showing gracious hospitality to some travelers they find themselves entertaining the Angel of God (Or is it actually God who shares their meal?).  And what comes of it?  The promise of a son to an old and barren couple, the promise of life—someone to carry on the family.  We don’t know if it was an ordinary day for God.  Perhaps it was one of those days that is like a thousand years!  But for Abraham and Sarah it was an extraordinary day of promise almost beyond hope.

Today’s gospel reports an ordinary day in the public life of Jesus.  Wherever he goes he brings healing and freedom from the power of evil.  And just often enough to bring encouragement he encounters someone like the centurion who really takes him at his word.  But while it was an ordinary day in the life of Jesus, it was an extraordinary day in the life of every person he touched.

As I write this I am preparing to leave town for a week, and plowing through a pile of stuff.  But it hardly seems like a day that’s out of the ordinary.  Extraordinary for me would be retreat or vacation when I don’t take my to-do list along.  But as I look back over my day I wonder how present I was to the people who interrupted my to-do list.  Did I give them the kind of respect and attention that could make it an extraordinary day for them even if for me it was just a day of tasks to be done?  Was I open to receiving from them a simple word or healing touch that could make this an extraordinary day for me?  Did I welcome strangers in a way that would allow them to bless me?