Reflection for Saturday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Word

By


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

Exodus: 12:41 "At the end of four hundred and thirty years, on that very day, all the companies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt."


Today's Reflection

Half of this morning’s gospel reading is taken up with a quotation from the prophet Isaiah.

It is a long quotation in comparison to other quotations from the Jewish Scriptures in the gospels.

The evangelist, Matthew, clearly regarded this text from Isaiah as speaking powerfully about the person of Jesus and the nature of his mission.

In the quotation from Isaiah, God addresses someone whom he describes as his chosen servant, whom he has endowed with his spirit.

Jesus was certainly God’s chosen servant, on whom the Holy Spirit had come down at the time of his baptism.

It is said of this servant in the quotation that he will neither brawl or shout.

That reflects Jesus’ reference to himself as ‘gentle and humble in heart’.

It is also said in that quotation from Isaiah that the servant will ‘not break the crushed reed, nor put out the smouldering wick’.

This certainly reflects the portrayal of Jesus in the gospel as one who is attentive and sensitive to the weakest and most vulnerable, who calls out to the burdened to come to him and find rest, refreshment.

A reed that is crushed is easily broken; a wick that is smouldering is easily put out.

Jesus had a special care for those who were frail and weak, all who were just hanging on by the skin of their teeth, as we often say.

The risen Lord has the same loving concern for us when we are at our most vulnerable, when, in the imagery of

Saint Paul, we are aware of ourselves as earthen vessels, prone to being broken.

At such times, the Lord is present to us as strength in our weakness, as sustenance in our frailty.

In the language of today’s responsorial psalm, he remembers us in our distress. He not only comes to us as strength in our weakness, but, having done so, he wants to come through us as strength in the weakness of others.

Resolution

Let's resolve to know that Jesus  looks to us to be as attentive to the crushed reeds and the smouldering wicks as he was.

Good Morning

Happie weekend.

Mary our Mother of good health pray for us.