Gospel: Luke 9:46-50
One day, the disciples were arguing about which of them was the most important.
But Jesus knew their thoughts, so he took a little child and stood him by his side.
Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name,
welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcomes the one who sent me. And listen: the one
who is found to be the least among you all, is the one who is the greatest.”
Then John spoke up, “Master, we saw someone who drives out demons by calling upon your
name, and we tried to forbid him, because he doesn’t follow you with us.” But Jesus said,
“Don’t forbid him. He who is not against you is for you.”
Reflect:
We can never understand a mystery on this side of life at least; we can only stand under
the mystery and live with it, with an attitude of awe and dynamic surrender. This is essentially
the lesson the book of Job offers us on the vexing problem of human suffering. One of the
classics in world literature and acclaimed by Alfred Lord Tennyson as “the greatest poem of
ancient and modern times,” the book of Job takes us through the deepening of faith of Job. In
today’s reading we find him with a certain equanimity and readymade catechetical answer at
the face of tragedies, an answer which is indicative more of rationalization than faith. (Don’t
we too live with such platitudes in life?) As we will see in the coming days, Job’s defenses
must and will crumble down and leave him utterly naked in soul before God, and he will,
at the end, arrive at the core of faith: wonder, awe, marvel, and
surrender to the Mystery.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2022