Ask For Help

~ Our readings this week encourage us to ask for help. Like parents leaving children at home with a babysitter, Jesus prepares his disciples for his death and ascension into heaven by reminding them: ‘Even though I’m not here with you, you still need to follow what I say. If you feel confused, just ask for help.’ Parents, of course, mean the babysitter. Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit, coming to be present to the Church at Pentecost.

Just like the disciples, we need this reminder at the end of the Easter season that even though Christ is not here on earth with us, he is still here with us – in our hearts, in our communities, in Spirit. Like the disciples, we are charged with following his teachings, and we need to be able to ask for help to stay the course.. My mind reels with the implications of that.

Consider what it takes to ask for help: to start, someone has to perceive that there is a gap between what they need and what they have/are capable of. If you’ve ever parented a developing child, walked alongside aging relatives, or done work in therapy, you know that the self-awareness, humility, and wisdom required just for this is a significant challenge. After the need is perceived, one has to work to understand the problem enough to know what supports, what tools to ask for, and often has to identify the right resource to ask. If a helpful resource is found and supports are made available, the next step is integrating the new knowledge and support with what one already had – a step which might solve the problem, or start the whole process of asking for help all over again. Asking for help requires us to be comfortable with vulnerability and capable of putting our trust in others to allow them to help.

Christ asks each of us to be willing and able to turn to the Holy Spirit for help: to develop our relationship with God enough to hear the Spirit when it speaks, and to trust that God’s will for us is good. Christ asks the Church to be perceptive to the needs of her people and seek guidance about how to lead them. We see Paul and Barnabas do this in the first reading, and we have been witnesses to and part of the synodal process, begun by Pope Francis, in recent years. This is the model of a Church noticing her people’s needs and asking for help. As we seek ways to live out Christ’s command from last week – “love one another as I have loved you” – let’s embrace the challenges of asking the Spirit to help us do just that.

Throughout the year, we present an article in the bulletin each week on a variety of topics, written by a member of our Parish staff or ministries on a rotating basis.