Eighteenth Sunday Reflections Spotlight Jamaican Poverty and St. Teresa’s Book‑Based Prayer

Two homilies for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time offer contrasting meditations. One recounts a Christmas‑tree‑decorating effort at a parish church in West Kingston, Jamaica, where nine‑year‑old Nanette and her mother Pam, part of a local squatter community, helped prepare for Mass while confronting daily hunger and insecurity. The narrative highlights broader gender‑based food insecurity, citing a United Nations report that 64 million women and girls suffer chronic hunger.

The second reflection turns to Saint Teresa of Ávila, describing how she relied on books to sustain her meditation and prayer when imagination failed her. Teresa’s early religious life, she writes, would have been impossible without the guidance and comfort that reading provided, underscoring the role of literature in spiritual formation.