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Jesus came down
the mountain
with them and stood on a stretch of level
ground. A great crowd of his disciples
and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the
coastal
region of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him and to be healed of their
diseases;
and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were
cured. Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him
because power came forth from him and healed them all.
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"I drove for miles and
miles, and wound up at
your door. I don’t mind spending every day out on your corner in
the pouring
rain. Look for the girl with the broken
smile; ask her if she wants to stay awhile, and she will be loved. Tap on my window; I want to make you feel
beautiful."
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The
song
by Maroon 5 uses a thought that is intriguing—what does a broken
smile look
like? It probably implies the idea of
someone who is trying to get over some pain, but realizes just how
difficult it
is, and the person is not making much progress. Maroon 5 sings the
thoughts of
a boyfriend who has lost the love of a girlfriend, and now he wants
to make it up again. He wants to
help her if he possibly can. Of course, he’s probably
interested in the
romantic idea of helping, but it’s an idea that we can all learn
from, whether
there is a romance or not. That lesson:
we can help people who need it.
Jesus knew the meaning of a broken smile because he knew many people who needed help. The Gospels are full of examples of people who constantly came to Jesus, begging for his help. He gave it to them with help that was often described as “power” going out from him, a power that cured even broken smiles, one would guess. There are a number of people with broken smiles in our lives—people at home in our families, people in our school, people out in the community, people who need some kind of help to ease the pain of their existence, even as they try to smile. Jesus can heal them, if they turn to him. But perhaps the closest person to them is you or me, and in our Christian vocation, we are called to do whatever healing we can do. |
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THOUGHT
What
is your understanding of a “broken smile”?
PRAYER Good and gracious God,
your Son wanted to heal
everyone within his reach because he knew their brokenness. Help us learn some of his concern so that we
can help people around us who may be in pain. Be
with us, we pray.
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©2007
Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |
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