Reflection for

Tuesday 14th Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Word

By


Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest
Don Bosco Shrine
Lingarajapuram, Bangalore

Mathew 9:37-38

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.


Todays Reflection

Adapting to Change

A Life-Change is Mentioned in the Gospel & Treated at More Length in Genesis.

JESUS Saving a Man from Demonic Possession.

But He Does Not Say how the Man, once Cured by JESUS, Adapted to His New Situation.

Suddenly He was Cured & Could Speak Again, & His Entire Life must be Re-Thought.

The Genesis Story Describes Jacob Wresting All Night long with some Unseen Force.

In the End Jacob Finds that He has been Wrestling with GOD.

For This Reason He Named the Place “Peniel,” in Hebrew, “Face of GOD.”

Jacob's Future is Foretold, “U shall No Longer Be Called Jacob, but Israel, because U intended with Divine & Human Beings & have Prevailed.”

His Future Life was Markedly Different from His Past & More Clearly Under GOD'S Guiding Providence.

For the Rest of His Life Jacob Carried a Notable Limp after His Wrestling with the Angel.

Sometimes We too can No Longer Stand as Tall as Before.

We may Hear GOD'S Call to Us Anew, Asking Us to Make a New & Different Contribution to the Life of Others.

In Jacob’s Story We can Find a New Type of Strength.

For GOD Chooses Those whom the World Considers Foolish to Shame the Wise.

Our Life Finds Its Fullest Realisation if We Don’t Shun the Struggle Entailed.

Seeing Things Positively

What a Contrast between how Ordinary Folk Admired JESUS' Miracles & how the Pharisees Scorned Them.

The People Said, “Nothing like This has Ever Been Seen in Israel.”

The Pharisees Said, “It is Through the Prince of Devils that HE Casts Out Devils.”

The People Saw GOD at Work in what JESUS was Doing; the Pharisees Saw Satan at Work in HIM.

It is Hard to Imagine a more Contrasting Response.

The People, in Contrast to the Pharisees, were Attuned to the Presence & Action of GOD in JESUS.

This Gospel Invites Us to Ask Ourselves, “To what Extent do I Sense the Presence of GOD around Me, Especially in the Good Other People are Doing?”

We can be Prone to Objecting to Things & Missing the Good that is Actually There.

We can be More Attuned to Noticing what’s Wrong than what’s Right.

While Never Being Blind to Evil & Sin, We Need to be open to how the LORD is at work in our lives & in the Lives of Others.


Resolution

Let's resolve to be like JESUS who was Sensitive to the Good in Others, even when They Failed to See It for Themselves.

GOD Bless Us All Today.