Thursday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time
“Rejoice with me ….”
“…the Pharisees and scribes were grumbling….” But Jesus, in the two parables he uses, says, “Rejoice with me….”
In all the years since Jesus died and rose, followers of Jesus have struggled with the reality of sin. In youth we may have the idea that we can eventually get over sin. As time and experience come on, it becomes all too obvious that sin is not going to go away. Time and experience bring home to us that our sin is deeply rooted, a kind of entrenchment despite much good will. If we are fortunate, we experience our shiny ideals showing their tarnished side. Then our disillusionment can open us to the road of hope.
On that road stands our risen Savior. He stands in the midst of His Church and beside us. To him we can admit our sin and hear, “Rejoice with me …” We have found the source of forgiveness and one willing to continually keep turning back to us inviting trust in his love and mercy. We must leave a most subtle form of pride or discouragement. Then we can move on from an adolescent stage to an adult faith where we start to get some idea that both grace and sin are mysteries of the human condition to be reckoned with.
At the deepest level of the Church’s life is the Heart of Jesus. The Heart of Jesus is irrigated with the Joy of the Holy Spirit—that gushing stream of delight which eternally wells up in the Blessed Trinity and flows down into this fragile universe.
Jesus stands in our midst and says, Rejoice with me! Enter me and my victory! And St. Benedict reminds us to never despair of the mercy of God!
Reflection by Fr. Xavier Nacke, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections