There’s a well-known marble quarry in our area. Recently, we went over for their annual festival, where sculptors spent a week working on a piece of stone. One artist was sculpting a complicated knotted figure. He explained how he spent time with the stone, studying and almost “listening” to it, learning how to work with it. If he imposed his will upon the stone, he risked destroying it. Today’s Gospel shows Jesus driving the unclean spirit from the Gerasene demoniac. The people of Gerasene experienced God’s grace, the healing of a profoundly tormented man. But they didn’t get it or perhaps didn’t want to. They had their own narrative. Jesus didn’t fit, and so they turned from him. We must wonder what moments of God’s creative grace and healing we miss when we see life simply as a chance to work out our own agenda instead of responding to the present moment. Though God typically lets the universe run according to its natural rhythms and patterns, what is to prevent God from shaping it and influencing it occasionally in remarkable ways to signal his purpose and presence? Jesus, open my heart to your presence here and now.