We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.
Reading
When day came the council of elders of the people met, both chief priests and scribes, and they brought him before their Sanhedrin. They said, "If you are the Messiah, tell us," but he replied to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I question, you will not respond. But from this time on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God." They all asked, "Are you then the Son of God?" He replied to them, "You say that I am." Then they said, "What further need have we for testimony? We have heard it from his own mouth." (Luke 22: 66-71)
Reflection
The Sanhedrin was the council of the elders of Israel. For you who are Catholic, your parish has a parish council, led by your pastor. Your diocese has a pastoral council, led by your bishop. If we imagine the Jerusalem Temple as the "cathedral" of Israel, the Sanhedrin becomes the Israelite "pastoral council", led by the high priest. As such, it has the role of safeguarding and promoting the faith of Israel.
What has your relationship with your parish or other faith community been like? When you were a child, did you find Mass overstimulating so that you acted out in ways that drew attention to you? Did others reject or disapprove of you? In your desire to understand and absorb information, did you ask priests or sisters or teachers question after question? Did they welcome such questions, or did they seem bothered by you? Did anyone in your faith community see your autistic gifts as assets, or did they only see you as somehow "disabled" and merely needing help – not capable of giving anything worthwhile to the community?
Just as your faith community may not have known what to do with you, so, too, the Sanhedrin was at a loss as to what to do with Jesus. They would not listen to His words about Himself or accept His perspective. Instead, they tried to place Him in a box where they could feel justified in rejecting Him.
Jesus knows well what it means to be misunderstood and rejected by those who should have been most welcoming and most open to Him. He came to fulfill everything the Sanhedrin claimed to believe and uphold, but they would not see it.
Ask Jesus, then, to help you find your place in your faith community. If anyone has rejected or misunderstood you, ask for the grace to understand them and to forgive. We cannot, in all fairness, ask for what we refuse to give. Tell people in your parish how they can better listen to and support their autistic sisters and brothers. If you have misunderstood your faith community, seek forgiveness and reconciliation for this. We need our faith communities in order to learn how to love and be loved, how to forgive and be forgiven. They need us in order to become more truly the full Body of Christ in every place.
Prayer
Father of mercy,
grant us Your strength and wisdom,
that we may follow you in all things.
Heal our relationships with our faith communities.
Help them to support us in our needs,
and help us to support them in theirs.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.