SUFFER WITH OTHERS

I will rejoice in Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping... will be heard in it no more. – Isaiah 65:19

I meet some people who are so wrapped up in their own suffering. Sometimes their pain is so small, but they magnify it and they become depressed, not realizing that the person just next door is in a much worse situation.

There are also people who are so miserable because they’ve isolated themselves. They live in their air-conditioned houses, ride in air-conditioned cars, and go to their air-conditioned offices. They don’t see the suffering around them. The only suffering they see is the beggar on the street knocking on their car window.

Can I disturb you? Today, I want you to be a missionary. No, not a priest or a nun or some guy going to Africa or China to evangelize, but to be a missionary in whatever you are doing— whether you’re a secretary, an accountant, or an engineer.

God has given you a mission—to look at the people around you and to weep with those who weep. To feel their pain, hunger, and thirst. And to do something about it. Bo Sanchez (bosanchez@kerygmafamily.com)

Reflect: What do you weep for? When you look at poverty, hunger, sickness, or pain, does it move you to action?

Dearest God, transform the way I see my life. Help me to get out of myself and suffer with those who suffer. Help me to lift them up from their pain. Amen.

St. Hugh of Grenoble, pray for us.

God always does something new. Our sin changes the situation and this requires God to compensate for the wrong we’ve done. Let us be grateful that He adjusts to our frailty, and so we need to adjust as well. We simply have to bear the change since we brought it about because of our sin.

Isaiah 65:17-21

17 Thus says the Lord: Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind. 18 Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create; for I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight; 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and exult in my people. No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there, or the sound of crying; 20 no longer shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not round out his full lifetime; he dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years, and he who fails of a hundred shall be thought accursed. 21 They shall live in the houses they build, and eat the fruit of the vineyards they plant.

Psalm 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-12, 13

R: I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

2 I will extol you, O Lord, for you drew me clear and did not let my enemies rejoice over me. 4 O Lord, you brought me up from the netherworld; you preserved me from among those going down into the pit. (R) 5 Sing praise to the Lord, you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name. 6 For his anger lasts but a moment; a lifetime, his good will. At nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing. (R) 11 Hear, O Lord, and have pity on me; O Lord, be my helper.” 12 You changed my mourning into dancing; 13 O Lord, my God, forever will I give you thanks. (R)

 
GOSPEL

Jesus knows that the motivation of some people who come to hear Him speak or ask Him for healing is not as pure as one could hope. However, Jesus does not deny the royal official who asks Him to heal his son. God is merciful and loving in all that He does. We simply need to entrust ourselves to His mercy and love, and follow where He leads us.

Seek good and not evil so that you may live, and the Lord will be with you.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

John 4:43-54

43 At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee. 44 For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his native place. 45 When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves had gone to the feast. 46 Then he returned to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, who was near death. 48 Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” 49 The royal official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus said to him and left. 51 While the man was on his way back, his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live. 52 He asked them when he began to recover. They told him, “The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.” 53 The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he and his whole household came to believe. 54 Now this was the second sign Jesus did when he came to Galilee from Judea.

think: What is your reason for following Jesus?

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T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST 

Read the Bible in one year - Exodus 7-9 

 

 

SIGNS 

I have been a vocation minister for eleven years now and I have met a number of youth wanting to enter the religious life. I have heard many of their stories, which either amazed me or made me wonder at how God can work on these young people. But once in a while, I chance upon those who seem to test God and look for signs so they can be assured of their response. And these are not ordinary signs, such as receiving strangely colored flowers, or being given a silver religious medallion, or being affirmed to the “holy” life by someone whom he barely knows. Why do we open ourselves to the strangest things just to confirm our faith?

Today’s Gospel speaks of things like this. People, even those who barely knew Jesus, flocked to Him. They did this not out of faith but out of curiosity at the seemingly great signs He was doing. But Jesus wanted something deeper. He wanted them to acknowledge not the signs He performed but the goodness He shared to them, that is, His mercy and love for them. This was something beyond their desire to be healed or for nourishment. Jesus showed them that there is a God who embraces them and shares His life with them as long as they put their faith in His goodness.

In our day-to-day experiences, we often look for big signs from God that will amaze us. Can we not see the mercy and kindness happening around us daily as gestures of God’s love? Do we not see the person smiling at us or the one who listens to our problems as manifestations of His divine presence?

Signs? We are overflowing with that. God is everywhere and is at each instance. Fr. Joel Victorino

------- REFLECTION QUESTION -------

What are the five moments when you saw God at work in your life?

That I am still alive today is a great sign of Your love for me, Lord. Amen.

Today, I pray for ___________________________