Tuesday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time

“It Will Go Ill with You, Chorazin! And Just As ill with You, Bethsaida!”
 
In today’s gospel passage (Mt. 11:20-24) Jesus is reproaching 3 villages (He will later include Capernaum) for not converting after seeing Him perform numerous miracles.
 
Sometimes it is very helpful to situate a given passage in its context to understand better its meaning; today’s is one of those times.
 
In the preceding passage Jesus praises John the Baptist, but at the same time notes that people did not convert when hearing him either. He points out that John was very austere and people thought he was crazy; Jesus Himself eats and drinks with the people, and he is called a ‘drunkard and a glutton’. It’s not hard to “hear” Jesus saying, in effect,
 
“What do you want?! What does it take to get through to you?”
 
In the immediately following passage Jesus says to His Father,
 
“I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”
 
Such are the people who do hear His word and convert. Those with the openness and simplicity of children. Not necessarily the most educated.
 
So in this context, where do we fit in?
 
I invite you to ask yourself a very simple question: What did i do, think, or say yesterday that was directly connected to my intentional and conscious effort to live as Jesus asks me to?
 
If i come up empty, does this say something to me that needs attention?
 
If I do think of something, can I work at making sure that this is or becomes a daily event?