Friday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s gospel Jesus is expressing a deep level of frustration: “Woe to you Chorazin! Woe to you Bethsaida!” “As for you Capernaum, ‘will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’” The reason for his frustration is that the residents of these cities have been unresponsive to his message: “Whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” Jesus himself says it (Jn 14: 6), “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” St. Augustine also spells it out in the first chapter of his Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
As these sayings express, God has created us to find all our joy and fulfillment in our relationship, as a Church, in Him. Yet we so often look elsewhere for our satisfaction. We ourselves are guilty of this every time we choose sin. Let us instead recognize the God who is calling us to Himself and organize our lives accordingly.
Reflection by Fr. Aquinas Keusenkothen, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections