REFLECTIONS ON THE WORD – 01/15/22 (Saturday)

Mark 2:16-17

16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that He was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to His disciples, "Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?" 17 And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

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Blessed Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time! Jesus stayed in the house of Levi who followed Him, and He ate with the tax collectors and other sinners. However, the scribes of the Pharisees saw this act of Jesus Christ. They immediately asked the disciples why He chose to be with them. The reason why the scribes thought about this was because they believed that people should stay away from sinners. However, Jesus desired to come to the sinners to heal them of their spiritual illnesses. He came to call the sinners which meant that He also called the scribes to follow Him. However, their pride and self-righteousness led them to reject this calling from God. 

There are times in our lives when we recognize our sinfulness and our weaknesses. God may allow us to fall to sin and other problems when we only depend on ourselves in order to teach us that we should only be dependent on His strength. By God's grace, we can persevere in following His will. However, there is a tendency for us to be guilty of pride and self-righteousness when we overlook our imperfections and when we only see our good works. We may think that we are great, and we may categorize ourselves as "holy." When this happens, we separate ourselves from people whom we judge as "sinners", and by doing so, we may also separate ourselves from Jesus who is with the sinners. In reality, saints are people who always acknowledge their sinfulness and who always persevere in following Him. There is nothing to boast in our good works because all of them are done by His grace. This is why Jesus Christ wants us to humble ourselves, so we will always be healed by our Divine Physician. If we acknowledge that we are guilty of pride, let's repent of it and let's follow Jesus in humility. He is calling us to examine our conscience. The more that we see our sinfulness, the more that we become dependent on the healing mercy of God. 

May we always be humble in every stage of our lives because no matter how many good works we make, without His grace, we will always fall. When we examine our conscience, Jesus will direct our lives to His calling. Rather than belittle other people, let's always entrust them to the mercy of God in our prayers. May we detach ourselves from the worldly understanding of greatness, and He will set our hearts on things of heaven.

Amen +

 

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, be with us always until the hour of our death. Amen. +

 

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +  

Reflection by: Dominic