Reflection for Friday, 13th week of Ordinary Time 

By

 

Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest, Bidar

Today's WORD of GOD 

Matthew 9: 9 -12 

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. 

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.  When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 

On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 

Today's Reflection 

GOD Calls Anybody & Everybody Irrespectively, & the Purpose is Not so much the Individual Benefit but the Higher & Larger Good.

For Our Reflection, Let Us Pick Up Some Simple Pointers. 

1st. JESUS Calls Matthew, a Tax Collector Usually Looked Down as a Sinner by Society. 

There is No Differentiation or Discrimination on the Part of GOD. HE Does Not Go by Human Labels or Estimates as Righteous or Sinner, Important or Insignificant, Rich or Poor, Etc. 

Why should We Put Restrictions & Conditions on GOD'S Grace when HE HIMSELF Offers It to All? 

Why Do We Feel so Jealous when Someone is Blessed by GOD? All the more, how can We Judge that Someone Does Not Deserve GOD'S Mercy because He or She is Bad, as if We are So Good & Only We are Good?

2nd. JESUS Calls Matthew while He was Sitting at His Tax Office. This may Denote that GOD Calls Us at Any Time. 

HIS Call may Come to Us, Not only when We are Immersed in Prayer, but also when Engaged in Our Daily Routine, in Our Duties. 

So let Us Not Wait to Catch the Voice & Message of JESUS Not only in the Quiet Moments of Prayer but all through Our Day, in Everything We Do.

3rd. JESUS Calls Him, “Follow ME”, & Matthew rose & Followed HIM. This is Very Interesting. No Conversation is Reported. No Discussion Follows. No Preparations are Done. 

The Point is Very Clear: the Promptness of Matthew’s Response. JESUS' Call Demands an Immediate & Unhesitating Response. 

There are No Calculations, No Discussions, No Sorting Out the Issues, No Conditions, No Assurances. 

No Pre-Plans or Future Ambitions. GOD'S Call is Without Conditions.

4th. GOD Calls Not the Righteous but the Sinners. This is Interesting because It Makes Being a Sinner Itself a Qualification 2b a Follower of CHRIST. 

This Does Not however Mean that Only Sinners Become Followers, or all the Followers are Sinners, or the Good People will Not Be Called. 

The Point is, that Our Call is Not on the Basis of Human Merit. Even Holiness is Not a Qualification! 

What One is Before the Call is Not the Matter, but what One Becomes After the Call, is the Real Matter. 

One who is Called by the LORD will Not Complacently Cling to Sin but will Strive to Become Righteous. 

Our Call is a Life to Celebrate. Life Becomes a Celebration when the LORD is with Us, & the LORD will be with Us, when We Respond to HIS Daily Call, “Follow ME”, & Take HIM to Our House, so as to Serve HIM & Then Follow HIM in HIS Footsteps.

Good Morning

Have an awesome Friday consecrating yourself and your family to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Ushering the new month with grateful heart for the blessings during the past six months.