Monday, October 24,
2016
The reflection today is based on
the Gospel for the day (Monday of the 30th Week in Ordinary Time).
Jesus is teaching in the
synagogue. There was a woman there who was bent over and crippled and has been
for 18 years of misery. Jesus calls to her and sets her free. He lays His hands
on her and she stands up for the first time in 18 years and begins praising
God. The leader of the synagogue gets all bent out of shape about this because
Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath. He makes a totally ridiculous statement:
“There are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured.”
AS IF miraculous cures are commonplace in that synagogue!
So I ask you this: What kind of
mentality is it that would experience something wonderful being done and not be
moved to wonder and awe, to gratitude and praise? Who is it that would scorn a
wonderful work of God being done for the sake of an extremist interpretation of
one of the commandments?
What kind mentality is it that
would always seek to find fault with any good in the universe? I recall
something a friend of mine once said about a critical relative: “She’s the type
of person who would stand in front of the Taj Mahal and point out that there
was some bird dung on the roof!”
That’s a slightly humorous
description of the mentality I’m speaking about. It is all the worse, I
believe, when people use their own interpretations of religion as an excuse for
denying the good that is in front of their eyes, and condemning what others may
see as an act of Providence.
God is total Goodness, Love,
Beauty and Truth. The entire world has come into existence as an expression of
these things, and our entire lives are saturated with that love and all it
entails. And yet so often we are miserable because of something petty and
inappropriate. You yourself are an expressions of the goodness, love,
beauty and truth of God—even with your failures, even with your weaknesses,
even with the things that have had you crippled for years, perhaps, and yes, I
will so far as to say: even with your sins. God’s love overcomes all of that.
The sacraments of the Church are also expressions of God’s action in our lives.
As I get older, I find it more and more difficult to understand those who erect
barriers to people’s recourse to the healing love of the sacraments. This may
offend you, perhaps, but I am taking a risk and being honest with you here.
As always, in these reflections
take whatever in them may speak to you and leave the rest aside. But most
especially, pray you can catch yourself when you are prone to complain about a
speck on the wall of a room that is filled with beauty, will you?
God bless you!
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