FRIENDS and SERVANTS of the WORD
13 December 2024
Second Friday of Advent
ST. LUCY VIRGIN MARTYR
WORD of the DAY
Jesus said to the crowds: “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by her works.” (Matthew 11: 16-19)
How shall I live this Word?
Jesus complains about the inconsistency of His people. They always have some excuse not to accept the message of God that Jesus announced. In fact, it is very easy to find excuses to reject those who think differently from us. The Pharisees were like children who want to amuse people in the streets and rebel when people do not move according to the music they play. They only accepted those who had their own ideas. When He called the first disciples, Jesus was clear, He said to them: “Come follow Me” (Mt 4:19). It is He we must follow, because He is the one who shows the way. We do not always know how to recognize the voice of God in history and in personal life. God always tries to reach us, but we never seem to guess the right “game”. This also applies to all of us: we find in ourselves some similarity with those children who always want to play a different game than what is proposed to them. Jesus puts us in front of our inconsistencies. The temptation, then as today, is that of making a God in our own image and likeness, to whom we can turn when we feel or need. We are never happy. If someone proposes a life of rigorous and ascetic faith, based on penance and mortification, we run away because we believe it is unbearable and sad. If, on the other hand, someone presents us with the most joyful aspect of faith, we consider it too simple and not serious. But what do we really want? We would like to have results without effort. We would like to be pleasing to God but we are much more concerned with being pleasing to people. We would like to be holy but without converting. Let’s stop acting like children; let’s take this God seriously who takes us seriously. We must have the courage to convert in order to welcome into our lives the newness of God!
Thank you, Lord, for letting me know the part of myself that is extinguished, cold, resigned, and rigid. Grant me Your Spirit so that He may remove from me the heavy cemetery stone of prejudice and of accusations. Grant me Your wisdom that I may re-discover the joy of facing myself, of measuring myself, and of loving my brothers and sisters.
The voice of St. Pope Francis
The spiritual edifice, the Church, community of those made holy by the blood of Christ and the Spirit of the Risen Lord, asks each of us to be coherent with the gift of faith and live a life of Christian witness that is not easy but we must be coherent in our life.
E-mail: srmterzo@gmail.com Website: www.sanbiagio.org info@sanbiagio.org Blog: livingscripture.wordpress.com -Comment: Sr. Gisella Serra, FMA
