When I was in junior high, one of my heroes was Dr. Tom Dooley, a physician who abandoned the comforts of the U.S. to practice medicine in a remote village in Laos. Although his work was humanitarian and nonsectarian, Dooley was openly motivated by his Catholic faith. He continued working until his death from cancer at age 34.
I thought about Tom Dooley when I read today’s Gospel because he did what Jesus commanded his disciples to do: trust in God, throw caution to the wind , leave their comfort zone, and serve other people. To be honest, today’s Gospel makes me uncomfortable because I realize I’ll never do what Jesus ordered.
I like my comfort zone - my nice family and home in a nice neighborhood, my good, socially respectable job etc. I’m even kind of proud that my comfort zone is wider than most people’s because we have housed international students for more than 25 years.
But I’ve never taken a REAL risk of the type that Jesus urges today and probably never will. So what’s second or third best?
Perhaps we can take baby steps like my daughter and I did this summer when we took day-old baked goods from her restaurant job to a local shelter. It wasn’t much but better than nothing. For a short time each week, we became less Comfortable Christians.
I suspect similar small opportunities present themselves to all of us. They are invitations to strengthen our trust in God by expanding our horizons, even slightly, to serve His people who make us uncomfortable. We don’t have to go thousands of miles from home or liquidate our mutual funds to move at least a step closer to what Jesus desires of us.
Eileen Wirth
I’m a retired Creighton journalism professor, active in St. John’s parish and a CLC member. In retirement, I write books about state and local history, including a history of the parish, and do volunteer PR consulting for groups like Habitat for Humanities, refugees etc. I love to read, work out, spend time with family and friends including those who can no longer get out much.
Writing reflections has deepened my faith by requiring me to engage deeply with Jesus through the Scriptures. In the many years I have been doing this, I’ve also formed friendships with regular readers nationally, most of whom I have never met. Hearing from readers and what I learn by writing make the hours I spend on each reflection well worth the effort.
