The scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Friday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB
In our gospel for today, we hear the continuation of
the Lord sending out the 72 disciples ahead of him to the various towns and
places he intended to visit. Between yesterday’s and today’s gospel, our Lord
was making it clear that their job in proclaiming the kingdom of God will be
challenging.
In yesterday’s gospel we hear the Lord tell his
disciples that there is s a rich harvest of those who need to hear the Good News
of God’s love for them. Then he goes on to say that he’s sending them like
“lambs among wolfs.” (Luke 10:3) In other words, it won’t be easy. There will be people
that will reject the message they are bringing from the Lord Jesus: that there
is love and healing in God’s love for each one of them. He instructs the
disciples to tell all they meet, “The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.” The
job of those 72 disciples is to help everyone to know the Love God has for each
one of them.
In today’s gospel he goes on to warn those who reject
the message of the Gospel that it won’t be easy for them on judgement day. The
Lord is teaching that we are to put God in the center of all we do to make this
a world where God’s love is in the center of all who we are. We are to turn
away from sinfulness and make God the center of all we do.
Listening to the Lord is to learn that Jesus is
teaching us to love God with our whole minds, hearts and being, and to love
others as we love God. That’s what the Lord is calling us to do when he says to
his disciples, “whoever listens to you listens to me.” The Lord is calling us
to turn away from the selfish way of life that many of us may be living, and to
turn to God by serving Him and loving all those God has placed in our lives.
Further, like those first 72 disciples, the Lord is
sending us into the world to bring the Good News of God’s love to everyone we
meet. It won’t be easy, but we are to bring the love of God into every
situation of our lives. We are to share God’s love not only with our words, but
in our actions. When people see us, can they see the love of God in how we live
out our lives? That’s how we are to bring the Kingdom of God into the world: by
our way of life in Christ. We are to be visible examples of God’s love for
everyone.
As we go throughout our days beyond our time in
prayer, let us remember that God is sending us out as His disciples, like lambs
among wolfs. In doing so we are bringing God’s love into a world that needs to
know God is present and cares for all people.
Good question about loving our neighbor. I invite you to reflect on this from Matthew 25:40: "And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’" So, my reflection is that by loving our neighbors (regardless of how sinful they are as you pointed out) we are loving Jesus. Just a thought! I will post this on the blog in response to your comments.
ReplyDeleteFrom Arlene B. Muller
ReplyDeleteThat passage DID cross my mind earlier.
I think I need to remember that love is willing & doing good for others & not necessarily a matter of feeling.
I could never imagine feeling the kind of love for such despicable people who do evil that I feel for GOD or for people whom I perceive as good.
I even have wishing difficulty wishing something other than punishment for them.
But I can pray for their CONVERSION & eventual salvation, hopefully not merely at their death (the thought of an evil person going to heaven at the last minute makes me cringe but I can be OK with the thought of purgatory & eventual heaven), but during their lives so they can truly repent & make amends.
I can still vote against pro-abortion politicians & hope they will be defeated at the same time I pray that GOD will open their eyes & change their hearts. If they are hungry I can feed them. If I see them in harm's way I can call 911.