On this memorial of Sts. Cornelius and Cyprian, two great church leaders who were martyred in the 3rd century, we are invited by God's Spirit to pray for our own church leaders, in this very difficult and troubling time of crisis in our Church, a crisis primarily of leadership.
 
Both readings inspire us to do this because they are descriptive of the approach, style, manner, and message both of the Lord Himself and of  His most zealous and effective disciple and preacher, St. Paul.  Paul is humble enough to acknowledge that the appearance of the Risen Christ to him (which makes him an apostle) is "as to one born abnormally," that he is "the least of  the Apostles,"  and that he is not fit even "to be called an Apostle," because he persecuted the Church of God. But he also gratefully acknowledges that he has not been ineffective as a disciple and preacher because of the grace of God. So, one way for all of us to pray today's readings is to simply recall both our failures (humbly) and our graces (gratefully) as followers and disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 
The other way I recommend that we pray today's Scripture readings-- a more excellent way, I might add -- is simply and restfully to do an Ignatian contemplation of the tender and lovely scene from the life of Jesus. More than most other passages of the gospels, this one lends itself to such a method of prayer and invites us to intimacy with the One who says: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest." Here are the steps to such an Ignatian approach: re-read the passage slowly, form a mental representation of the place where the dinner occurred, place yourself somewhere at our near the table. Then see the persons (here Jesus, Simon, and the woman), listen to what they are saying, and consider what they are doing.  Pay close attention to the kind and merciful but firm words of Jesus, the tender and intimate actions of the woman, the disdain of the Pharisee.  Each of us is then invited to reflect carefully on all this, applying it to ourselves.
 
Most importantly, end with a deeply personal conversation with and prayer to Jesus-- what St. Ignatius calls a "Colloquy"-- in which, like Paul, we recognize gratefully and lovingly the grace and call of Christ, and offer ourselves to be servants of Christ's mission, the mission so beautifully and dramatically portrayed in this scene from the life of Christ.  Finally, end as we began, with a prayer for church leaders, that they may truly reveal the merciful way of Jesus.