Daily Reflection Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week  in Ordinary Time

When I was a child and did something wrong (which was pretty often!), my mother would tell me to sit quietly and think about what I had done. After reading both Paul’s and Jesus’ readings today, I believe that they are communicating the same message: Paul—When I was a child, I acted like a child; Jesus—We sang and played and you did not respond. God loves each one of us unconditionally. We have heard that statement a multitude of times. Just as a mother loves her child, she also expects her child to mature with age. So, I propose the question, “Are we maturing in our love for God which shows itself in our interpersonal relationships? The thermometer Jesus has given us is laid out in the works of mercy and the beatitudes. Yet, in today’s reading, Luke tells us that the response of the crowd is apathetic. There is no desire to seek out good, let alone change for the better.

    Often, we have heard the words that Paul preaches in today’s first reading. His words illustrate how we are to live all these spiritual gifts. We are remote from the many international was and tensions.  Unless we are living in a cave under a mountain, we are experiencing tensions in our world today. So much of the poverty and violence in our own country may be from afar. Yet, we may have our own personal difficulties:  family tensions, lay-offs at work, misunderstandings that sting. If we really listen to Jesus’ and Paul’s words, we have our own road map to justice, peace, and understanding. 

    Throughout our lives, we pass through phases as we grow. We are called to mature spiritually. Let’s revisit and prayerfully mull over the counsel of Paul. Yes, we may be intellectually brilliant, over the top talented, or strikingly beautiful in physique, but if we do not love ourselves first and then love others according to Jesus’ recommendations, then we are knuckleheads—or as Paul says, “clanging cymbals.” Today, let’s all sit in our corners and evaluate our words, our behavior, our attitudes. Do they reflect what Jesus and Paul are teaching us today?