This Sunday, Jesus teaches us how to pray. In Luke’s Gospel, he gives us the words of the Our Father and then shares a story of persistent asking: “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” These are words of hope, but they are also a call to action. Jesus isn’t just teaching us how to pray; he’s showing us what to do when the world is in pain. And the world is in pain.

This past week, three Catholic Christians were killed and several more wounded when an Israeli tank fired on the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza. This church, once a place of refuge for over 700 people, has now become a symbol of suffering for the Body of Christ. The victims are not strangers; they are members of our Church. As St. Paul reminds us, “If one member suffers, all suffer together” (1 Cor 12:26).

We are not separate. We are one Body. When Jesus spoke of the Church as his Body, he was not being metaphorical. The Church, as described in Lumen Gentium, is “a sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race”. What happens to one part happens to all. When a hand is wounded, the whole body feels it. And in Gaza, the Body of Christ is wounded.

This is not distant news. St. Michael Parish supported Catholic education in the Holy Land last year. Those people are our people. Their wounds are our wounds. And so we are called to prayer, yes. But not only that. We are called to persistent intercession like the friend who knocks at midnight, not for himself, but for another. Jesus promises that our Father will respond when we intercede with love and persistence. So let us pray, fast, and offer up sacrifices for our brothers and sisters in the Middle East.

As we gather this weekend, we also continue our parish pew count, asking not only how many are among us, but also who. This year, we’ve added a small but meaningful question: what year were you born? It’s anonymous but it tells us something important. It tells us about the Body we are here. Are we mostly young? Mostly older? A mix? By doing this we hope to better understand who is coming to Mass and how we might better serve and invite.

This demographic insight helps us in practical ways- like setting up Mass or knowing how many hosts to consecrate. But more importantly, it helps us live our mission. St. Michael Parish is a community spread across six churches, striving to stay united in faith and purpose. These kinds of simple acts of counting, of asking, of noticing remind us that every soul matters, every person has a place.

And many in our community are giving witness to that unity and love. Last week, the Sacred Heart Café breakfast during Old Hallowell Days raised money to feed the hungry in our area. It was so successful, they ran out of food! This week and next, the Social Justice Commission is collecting items for the United Community Living Center, a grassroots ministry reaching out to the unhoused and most vulnerable in our area. These are powerful signs that the Body is alive and right here in Central Maine.

But we are also called to look beyond. The suffering in the Holy Land calls us to prayer and solidarity. Pope Leo has condemned the violence in Gaza and called for a ceasefire. Cardinal Pizzaballa, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, is visiting those wounded at the Holy Family Church. We must not be silent. We must knock persistently at the doors of heaven-and perhaps also at the doors of our representatives in government. We must ask for peace. And we must not forget that it is our Church, our family, our Body being broken.

Let us renew our faith this week by remembering that the Church is not a building, but a Body. We are united not just in belief, but in love and suffering and mission. May our prayers be fervent, our compassion deep, and our witness strong.