TUESDAY, FOURTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Hos 8: 4-7, 11-13 Ps 115: 3-10 Mt 9: 32-38
JESUS MAKES NO DISTINCTION
How unwearied Christ is in doing good, one good work follows another. Treasures of wondrous mercy are hidden in him, continually communicated, and never exhausted. Christ cures at the roots, but the Pharisees and scribes ridiculed him, yet He went on with his work. He went to great and wealthy cities, and also to poor and obscure villages as well. For Jesus everyone was equal and precious – be the meanest and hardest sinner or the greatest figure. Rich and poor alike, he makes no distinction! Jesus is concerned for our souls, seeing us ignorant and careless, and ready to perish for lack of vision. Jesus is a compassionate friend to precious souls though they be sinful, he yearns to bring them back to himself. As the custodian of souls, Jesus wants us back through repentance. He prays for us and teaches his disciples to do the same.
Repentance is of utmost importance, and this is what prophet Hosea tells in the first reading, repentance of what is bad in itself and in us. He wants us to sense the mischievous red flags of our sinfulness and its consequences, the little altars that we tend to build. Our habitual sins make it difficult for us to part with them. It is hard to cleanse ourselves from their filthiness. But Jesus makes this possible through his compassion that we witness in the gospel. All our idols cannot save us from our sins. They push us more and more to our destruction and the only way out from this is repentance through prayer. Prayer is our biggest weapon to destroy what could destroy us.
Let us not bring ruin upon ourselves by clinging onto our sinful idols and their altars but instead cling to Jesus who has plans for our prosperity and not our destruction. So, let our hearts be like the psalmist who teaches us to give glory to God and not to our idols. Let us give glory to Jesus by trusting in him and his promises and his blessings – he’s for everyone and doesn’t make any distinctions!
Response: House of Israel, trust in the Lord.
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