Isn’t it true that we often seek God more earnestly when our need is greater, whether in our individual or communal need. We come before the Lord in our poverty, our hunger, our sadness because it is above all in those times that we realize that we are not self-sufficient. In Luke’s gospel, from which our reading is taken, as Jesus hung from the cross one of the criminals alongside him said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” To this hopeless man Jesus said, “today, you will be with me in paradise.” It is when we are at our weakest that grace is at its strongest.