Wednesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

The scholars who have studied the Gospels tell us that St. Luke in today’s Gospel has grouped some sayings of Jesus around the notion of “the rejection of Israel and the call of the gentiles to salvation.”

In our hearing, his words come to us as a call to know him! If we do not know him, then this saying will apply to us: “’I do not know where you are from.’”

We know Christ, of course, in many ways – in the stranger we meet or the neighbor we serve or in prayer, etc. But chiefly, we know Christ in the Word and in the Blessed Sacrament we celebrate. The missal puts it in these words:

… God speaks to his people, opening up to them the mystery of redemption and salvation and offering them spiritual nourishment; and Christ himself is present in the midst of the faithful through his word. (GIRM 55)

To “know” Christ in the Eucharist involves the will to know him. It is not enough just to be present—“We once ate and drank in your company; you taught in our streets.” We must will to enter the mysteries, to hear Christ’s word and offer with him his sacrifice. Obviously, there are times when we will drift off somewhere else. But this is not because we will to drift. We come because we will to know Christ. And knowing him, we are slowly transformed by a radiant friendship.

Reflection by Fr. Xavier Nacke, OSB