Reflection on Luke 9:51-56

30 Sep 2008, Tuesday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time

Reflection on Luke 9:51-56

The apostles often offer us consolation. If they, walking with the Master, could still be so thick-headed, so unfaithful, then surely there is hope for us who are similarly weak. The Gospel reading today reveals a weakness of the apostles more serious than most: James and John seek to call down fire from heaven on their enemies. This is no figure of speech: as with Sodom and Gomorrah, they wish to obliterate the city, to kill all who live within it. Simply because the inhabitants of the city disrespected Jesus!

And James and John had not just met Jesus yesterday, either. This event occurs on the road to Jerusalem, on the way to Christ's final Passion. The apostles have learned at His feet for three years. They were present at the Sermon on the Mount to hear Jesus proclaim "love your enemies...bless those who curse you". Now, they seek the destruction of an entire city?

But consider: this is the same John who will later write "God is love" and "Whoever loves God must also love his brother". What changed? John was later a personal witness to the Passion of Jesus Christ. He saw with his own eyes the self-giving love with which Jesus poured out His blood for us on the cross. As he stood with the Blessed Mother at the foot of the cross, John finally understood the message of love Jesus had preached.

And us? Don't we sometimes, like the John in today's Gospel, hate, and curse? Do we not fail to heed the command of Jesus to love those who hate us? If we fail to do so, it is because we have not fully understood the sacrifice of Calvary, the full message of Jesus Christ. We need to pray on the Passion of Christ, to reflect on the Passion of Christ, to meditate on the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, to humbly walk the Stations of the Cross...until we can feel the Passion of Christ in our soul as clearly as Saint John saw it with his own eyes.

Then we will no longer hate, we will no longer curse...then we will bless as Christ blessed, and love as Christ loved.