Regardless of where we fall on this emotional spectrum, the reality is that the summer season offers plenty of enticing and distracting opportunities. Before us, we have family outings, picnics, team sports and other celebratory and cultural events.

Beyond these social and collective experiences, summer also offers us individual activities like gardening in the quiet spaces of our backyards or the occasional evening stroll or jog in the neighborhood. For those who shy away from the heat, there is always the afternoon matinee at the local movie theater — offering us visual feasts of summer blockbuster films in the comfort of air-conditioned venues.

No doubt, each of us will respond accordingly to the need of the occasion. The same can be said spiritually. This midyear time can be a moment to reflect a bit more intentionally on where we have been and where we are going — a moment to reset and adjust.

For Catholics, this time of reflection can welcome deeper spiritual discernment in relationship to our personal and social lives. We can look, for example, at our spiritual practices and prayerful devotions and make necessary adjustments. Similarly, we can step back and look at familial relationships, deliberately seeking to identify areas for further growth and enrichment.

Socially, we can scan the horizon and see that we still need to grow spiritually in our encounters with one another. The current polarized public climate leaves us wanting for more. The commitment to the common good appears lost to vitriolic sentiments and actions evading basic common courtesy. The same is often the case in our faith and ecclesial reality. We find ourselves bickering about many things, forgetting the essentials of our Gospel values and virtues.

While there are no easy solutions to complex human dynamics and issues, we can take comfort in knowing that walking closely with Christ offers us helpful direction, especially for those of us seeking to follow in His footsteps. Jesus’ encounters with others were not always easy, yet He stayed engaged and connected, especially to those who needed healing and reconciliation.

Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:24-30), for instance, offers us a hopeful sign to follow. In this brief and powerful narrative, we discover not only the challenges that come from encountering differences in perspectives and identities, but also the mutual transformation that takes place when our hearts are open to the needs and gifts of others.

As we continue in our own summer journey, we pray that our minds and hearts will be open to the newness that comes from knowing the Lord and our mutual encounters. We ask God to guide our discernment so that we may also be enriched and transformed by the grace found in those around us: “Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received” (1 Peter 4:10).