Today we move beyond the Easter Season…beyond Pentecost…beyond the Feast of the Holy Trinity…and beyond the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. We are back in “Ordinary Time.” As I’ve mentioned before, the Church uses the phrase “Ordinary Time” not to suggest “Ho-Hum Time,” but rather to point toward our ordinary, day to day living. The word “Ordinary” actually is taken from the concept of “ordinal numbers,” the numbers we use to count… “first, second, third, etc.” With this as a background, isn’t it appropriate that the Gospel story this weekend poses a very sad situation of our daily life…the death of a child. There are few things more gut-wrenching than a parent losing a child to death (in the OK case, of course, both mother and child were lost). There are no words to express our sorrow and no words possible to explain why such a thing would happen when we go to a wake of a child. Today’s Gospel passage is a story of a mother who has just lost her son. Jesus comes upon the funeral procession of an only son of a widowed mother (this poor mother!!!). When Jesus saw her, the Gospel says, “He was moved with compassion” and told the mother not to worry. He then touched the coffin and the young man was brought back to life’!!! Can you imagine witnessing this scene? Compassion is a wonderful virtue and we see it so clearly as a major attribute in the life of Jesus. This should say something to us who want to be His followers. Do you have this virtue in your heart? Have you tried throughout your life to nurture it? It is SO important in our daily, ordinary lives to be a person of compassion. Compassionate people have the ability to bring new life and hope into the lives of others. To sum up, the central theme of today’s readings is that, in a world of broken hearts, God sees and cares for us in our grief. He has compassion on our miseries and gives us His healing touch. Today’s Scripture readings challenge US to become channels of God’s compassionate and healing love and to place our hope in Jesus who gives us resurrection and eternal life. Joke of the Week: Three highly decorated police officers die in a wild shoot out with narcotics dealers and go to heaven. God greets them and asks, "When you are laid out in your casket, and your fellow officers and family are mourning you, what would you like to hear them say about you?" The first cop says, "I would like to hear them say, that I was the bravest cop on the force." The second police officer says, "I would like to hear that I was a terrific cop who died in the line of duty." The last cop replies, "I would like to hear them say ... 'Look, he's moving!" GOSPEL HOMEWORK OF THE WEEK: Do people see you as a compassionate person?