“The royal official said to him, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You may go; your son will live.’ The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.” (JN 4: 49-50)
Probably we would ask again to be sure that Our Lord understands what we ask for. He asked for Our Lord’s visit—“come down before my child dies,” and Jesus gave him what he really needed—“your son will live.” “The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.” Simple action—he left. When we ask for something, we should distinguish between what we really need from Jesus and how Our Lord should respond.
“Seek good and not evil so that you may live, and the LORD will be with you.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“Come, let us return to the LORD, it is he who has rent, but he will heal us; he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds. He will revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up, to live in his presence.” (HOS 6: 1-2)
“Come, let us return to the Lord” with all our wounds, with our scars, our rejection and low self-esteem. He is so patient, so gentle and protective. When we fail and when we fall, when we forget or don’t pay attention, when we are below our standards and everything is difficult–He is always there for us. We need “to live in His presence.”
“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, He is ‘One and there is no other than he. And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” (MK 12: 32-33)
How important are our hearts to Our Lord—more important “than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When we invite Him into our hearts in Holy Communion, we can pray, contemplate and adore Our Lord “with all our understanding, [and] with all our strength.”
“Repent, says the Lord; the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me. From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day, I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets. Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed; they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers.” (JER 7: 24-26)
How difficult it is for us when we are ignored–by our children, who don’t like to listen to us and accept our advice (especially teenagers), or by our colleagues or loved ones. God has “sent untiringly all His servants the prophets,” and “they [the people] have not obeyed nor paid heed” and instead “turned their backs,” but He is never tired or resentful. He loves, He understands, and He never gives up on us: He is “gracious and merciful.”
“Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart, for I am gracious and merciful.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.” (MT 5: 17-19)
God the Father, Who gave us the commandments, also gave us His Son, Who was sent to “fulfill everything.” The reason for the commandments was to keep us safe, to protect us when we are in the world, and to show us the direction to heaven. But the Commandments weren’t the last word of God. He gave us His Son. Our Lord is with us “until all things have taken place.”
“Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; You have the words of everlasting life.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“Peter approached Jesus and asked him, ‘Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.’” (Mt 18: 21-22)
We ask the same question when we speak about being a gift of self: “How often must I” be a gift of self? And we are proud because we can count how many times we did it: “As many as seven times.” Our Lord’s answer is difficult: “not seven but seventy-seven times”—which means: always, a limitless forgiveness and mercy and a limitless gift of self, which should be free, creative and joyful.
“Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart; for I am gracious and merciful.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth: ‘Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.” (LK 4: 24)
Why do we need prophets in our days? Because a prophet is not one who speaks about the future but is one who speaks for God. Their role is to remind us that we live in God’s presence, that we are His beloved children and that we should “hope in the Lord and trust in his word.”
“I hope in the LORD, I trust in his word; with him there is kindness and plenteous redemption.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 COR 1: 22-25)
We know what “weakness and foolishness” means in our lives. How often we fall, how often we disappoint our loved ones, how often we stop doing something that we promised to keep doing for a long time; this is a part of our nature and condition. But we can always trust God’s wisdom and His power. When we put our trust in Him and when we put our projects and decisions in His heart, we can experience “the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“Who does not persist in anger forever, but delights rather in clemency, and will again have compassion on us, treading underfoot our guilt? You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins; you will show faithfulness to Jacob, and grace to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from days of old.” (MI 7: 18-20)
Our Lord always “delights in clemency, and will again have compassion on us.” We are important to Him; we are His children, and He takes care of us. Even if we are sinners, He is always faithful. We can always return to Him.
“I will get up and go to my father and shall say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.” (MT 21: 36-39)
We know that the parable of the tenants is a true story about what we did to Our Lord. We also know that His death was a part of God’s plan, much bigger than we could expect. His death gave us eternal life.
“God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son; so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.” (Gospel Acclamation)
