Scripture Readings

• First Reading: During Easter Time: Heb 10:19-25, or Outside Easter Time: Prov 4:10-18

• Responsorial Psalm: Ps 119:1-2, 12, 14, 36-37, 41-42

• Alleluia Verse: Col 3:16

• Gospel: Luke 2:15b-19

Reflection on Today’s Feast

By Fr. Al Hicks, SJ

It was public school all the way until my Junior year in High school. Out of the blue my father announced I would be finishing my illustrious High school years in a parochial school in a neighboring town. It changed the direction of my life. For one thing, my teachers became Sisters of St. Joseph. I had never met a religious sister and they made a lasting impression on me. From that point, I became to sense a newborn conviction in my thoughts that I should take a serious look at the road ahead.

 Even in my tender high school years, I realized I would not be joining the Sisters any time soon and so began the search. I was not aware there were Jesuit schools, I never knew a Jesuit, and the religious life was a mystery to this seventeen-year-old budding research scholar. Maybe it was a pamphlet in the back of the church, maybe a book at the library, but I do believe that the Holy Spirit was hard at work. I do believe the Spirit is a potent force that hovers over the whole world with bright wings ever ready to point the way forward to those who strive to hear that tiny whispering sound, God. The road is long and winding but there are guides, willing and able. The Holy Spirit is sent to remind us of all that Jesus did and said, our mother Mary makes certain we don’t get lost, and the Archangel Raphael assures Tobit and us with him that he is familiar with all those roads we travel to Media and beyond.

 Next year, 2023, will mark seventy years in the Society for me.  The years have been kind. I have never lost the suspicion that the Holy Spirit has pointed out the way for me and continues to do so. We all need guides in life. During the time of Ignatius, the early Companions made it a custom to stop at a small chapel at the crossroads in Rome dedicated to Our Lady of the Way. Today that humble picture of Mary is enshrined in the mother church of the Society as a reminder of these guides. Our Lady of the Way is celebrated still on May 24 and Pope Francis continues the custom of stopping and praying before an image of Mary on an altar in the basilica of Mary Major before and after journeys.

 But, in the end, a final salute to Raphael the Archangel: “I am Raphael, one of the seven angles who stand in the glorious presence of the Lord, ready to serve him” and you. And he assures us in the Book of Tobit, “I have traveled there many times and I know all the roads.” Happy journeys in your many travels of life.

Our Lady of the Way, pray for us!

Fr. Al Hicks, SJ, serves as a pastoral minister and tutor at McQuaid Jesuit High School in Rochester, NY.