I am currently reading and (so far) would gladly recommend the book "Blindspots: Why We Fail to Do What's Right and What to Do About It" by Bazerman and Tenbrunsel. In a very systematic manner and without casting blame, they expose that because of how we are created, we all fail to see the full picture. We all fail to grasp the truth and this causes a great deal of distress in our world. Out of our own innate inability, we become reactive and insolent, sometimes even belligerent. We cry for justice but are blind to how the scales of justice may already be tilting, and frequently ignore when they may be tilting towards our own privilege. 

The scriptures this weekend are filled with this same prognosis that Bazerman and Tenbrunsel offer us, even though they were written thousands of years ago. The First Reading from Isaiah tells us, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord." (IS 55:8). The Second Reading describes is written by Saint Paul and describes an apostle, a saint, who is conflicted and caught in between two prevailing truths. He says "I do not know which I shall choose. I am caught between the two." (Phil 1:23) and the Gospel Reading is sure-fire trap for us who live in a capitalist society. Jesus tells a story of a master who gives the same wage to workers whether they worked 2 hours or 8 hours. It doesn't make sense to us! How could it with our existing limitations? 

Putting all this together, it reminds me how much we need each other. Our own limited sense of the world is rife with blindspots that makes us incapable of authentic love without God's facilitation into the kind embrace of each other. God has implanted the well spring of salvation within us, not as individuals, but as a community. If we have failed in recent decades and experience the sting of isolating division in our politics, churches, and families, then we already know where the medicine resides, it is in each other. If we believe that we will find the healing balm for our divisions in the marketplace or thorough a lawsuit, a sporting event or an inebriated shindig, then we will always be wanting. The answer comes through Christ who shows us how to be community and care for each other because of, not in spite of our blindspots. 

In the constant pursuit of these efforts, we ask for your prayers for events in the Church in the coming weeks that will labor to strengthen the bonds of community. On Monday, September 25, 2023, pastors and catechetical leaders from around the Archdiocese will gather for the Archdiocesan Day of Renewal and hear from Archbishop Cardinal Cupich and Cardinal Cantalamessa on how we can best fulfill our mission as church together here in Chicago. 

In a few more weeks, a much larger project will take place in Rome as Pope Francis convenes the Synod on Synodality on October 4, 2023. This meeting will convene 364 leaders of the church selected by Pope Francis. Most of the members are bishops but some are from religious orders and lay people working in the Church. Together they will explore how we can better pursue God's invitation to community. In the past, synods have been convened to discuss the role of bishops, the Eucharist, the Bible, young people, and other important topics. This time the synod is specifically on how we have synods or better translated, how we "walk with one another." 

Please pray for both of these events and the attendees who will participate in them. 

In our local communities, our country, the world, and even the Church itself, there are unnecessary divisions. Many times, we hold these divisions because we hold inadvertent bloodspots which prevent us from seeing each other eye to eye. It will take prayer and openness to heal theses wounds. May the work to end division be at the forefront of our prayer so that our thoughts may be more like God's who says, "As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts." (Is 55:9)