Thursday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
“… on the third day I accomplish my purpose.”
Something of a commentary on this text is in our first reading: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Jesus accomplished his “purpose” because his food and drink – his passion – was to accomplish the will of the Father! And, in turn, he was convinced that the Father was “for him.”
Our task—and our privilege—is to appropriate this willingness and this passion. It is more than just consciousness in facing many distractions. It is activating our faith so that we ‘know,’ become convinced, are passionate, that God is for us. We can forget this so readily!
Caryll Houselander saw it as being like Mary’s yes:
Each one of us must echo [Mary’s] yes for our own lives. We are all asked if we will surrender what we are, our humanity, our flesh and blood, to the Holy Spirit and allow Christ to fill the emptiness formed by the particular shape of our life. The surrender that is asked of us includes complete and absolute trust; it must be like Our Lady’s surrender… What we shall be asked to give is our flesh and blood, our daily life—our thoughts, our service to one another, our affections and loves, our words, our intellect, our waking, working, sleeping, our ordinary human joys and sorrows—to God.
In each Eucharist we have the chance to say our Yes with Christ’s.
Reflection by Fr. Xavier Nacke, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections