From today’s Gospel passage: At the sight of the crowds, his heart was
moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep
without a shepherd. (Matthew 9: 36)
I found there to be a
considerable difference in various translations of this verse so I decided to
look up the original Greek text, and with the help of an interlinear reference,
discovered that the sense of the original is as follows:
And seeing the crowds, he was filled with tenderness concerning them,
because they were distressed and prostrate as sheep not having a shepherd.
The image that immediately came
to my mind was the sight of the crowds of homeless refugees who are suffering
so terribly from the wars and terrorism in the Middle East. And I prayed, “Jesus,
look upon them with tenderness and in ways known only to you, give each
individual a special form of help and grace this day.”
We have read time and time again
in the Gospels how Jesus cares for the individual people He meets along the
way. To one He brings sight, to another hearing. Palsied limbs are made whole,
anguished souls hear the words of forgiveness that no one else will give to
them. The religious leaders of the day condemn the sinner; Jesus does not, but
rather forgives and offers a promise of new life.
The next time you see a picture
of a group of refugees in the news or on the Internet, spend a couple of
minutes dwelling on each individual face. Look upon that one person “with
tenderness,” pray for each individual. See not a crowd but rather a collection
of unique persons, each different, each with a different tale of horror and
misery to tell, each with hopes that somehow things will get better. Judge no
one. Pray for each.
And pray also that the Lord will
look up on you in your troubled and tired existence, and bring you
precisely what it is that you need this day, even perhaps something you don’t
even realize you need.
God bless you!
Note: I will be posting from now until Friday, and then will be off for
the final period of my summer travels. I will resume posting again on July 22
or July 23.
No comments:
Post a Comment