Daily Thoughts: Pope Francis writes
in his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii
Gaudium: The Joy of the Gospel, “The good news is the joy of the Father who
desires that none of his little ones be lost, the joy of the Good Shepherd who
finds the lost sheep and brings it back to the flock. The Gospel is the leaven
which causes the dough to rise and the city on the hill whose light illumines
all peoples. The Gospel has an intrinsic principle of totality: it will always
remain good news until it has been proclaimed to all people, until it has
healed and strengthened every aspect of humanity, until it has brought all men
and women together at table in God’s kingdom. The whole is greater than the
part.”
We might say that his words remind us of
the value of the Gospel today. It is “Good News” for all people, not just those
we think are worthy, not just those who conform to the law, not just those who
do, see and think the way we do. The Gospel heals, strengthens and brings joy
to all. Like Jesus and Susanna we might be judged by appearances, we might be
judged falsely but we should not fear because the Good Shepherd is always with
us.
Jesus says in the Gospel today, “You
judge by appearances….” Often our judgments of people are just based on
appearances. It is either the color of their skin, their ethnic background, the
language they are speaking, the clothing they are wearing, the god they believe
in, the part of the world they come from that we use to decide who people are.
We have not bothered to stop and talk with them or listen to their story or
understand what they believe and value. We just judge them, we put them into a
box from which they will never escape.
For me an interesting thing about our
Gospel (John 8:1-11) story today has always been that it is only the woman who
is brought before Jesus. She was caught in the act of adultery so there had to
be a man there but only the woman is dragged before Jesus. It gives you a sense
of the injustice that was present in society at that time. Women were pieces of
property along with children, not treated in an equal way. She is judged by her
appearance and the fact that she is a woman. She has been place in the box of
judgment.
Jesus however has a different way of
looking at life and society. Perhaps he sees the injustice and responds to it,
or perhaps Jesus just sees every person as someone created in the image and
likeness of God. Perhaps he sees someone who has made a mistake yet deserves
another chance. Perhaps Jesus sees life were the crowd sees death. Perhaps
Jesus sees the possibility for change and newness of life and the crowd sees
only the law and punishment.
Jesus has always been judged by
appearance by the religious leaders of his time. He cannot escape the box they
have placed him in no matter what he does and says or how hard he tries. The
problem is when people are judged in this way, those who do the judging lose.
The religious leaders lose because they missed the presence of God in their
life. God was standing in their midst and they didn’t see God. God can be standing in our midst, perhaps not
as dramatically as Jesus, but God is still presence in others and if we judge
them by only appearance we lose.
Susanna (Daniel 13: 1-9, 15-17, 19-30,
33-62) was judged unfairly and what we learn from her story is that unfair
judgments always catch up with those who do the judging. The truth always finds
its way to the surface. It can be a difficult process and at times we need
people like Daniel to point out the flaws in our judgment but truth will always
win even though it may take time, sometimes a life time.
As we go about our day let us not judge
by appearance. Let us look for the truth, look for the presence of God in all
we meet. Let us be guided by the Light of the world.
Have a blessed Monday everyone!
Daily Prayer: Loving God, you
are our light and life. Grace us with the wisdom to recognize the many works of
your hands today. Help us to be your light in the world today by the way we
live our life. Enable us to turn away from the desire to judge and to trust in
your presence in everyone we meet. Make us instruments of your love, your joy
and your peace so that we never walk in darkness but only in your light! Amen!
A Runner’s Thoughts: As we run today
let us receive God’s blessings through every breath we take. We breathe in the
presence of God and we exhale all our struggles, all our faults, all our
failings. With each breath let us allow God to create something new within us
as we run. Enlivening us with the breath of life, the breath of grace, the
breath of God!
Daily Blessing: Monday
greetings and blessings to all! I hope you had a great weekend or at least a
good one! I pray that your new work week has started off well with a morning
without any issues or problems. If that is not the case I pray that God will
bless you with a day that gets better as you go along!
I would like to send a special shout out
to my niece Bridget, whose birthday is today! Hopefully she is enjoying a
wonderful time with her parents who have traveled to Colombia to visit her.
Happy Birthday Bridget! Many blessings today and always. Have a great day with
Mom and Dad! (PS. My card will be a little late but please know I think of you
often and pray for you always.)
We will begin the mission here at Divine
Mercy Parish this morning with the 8:30 am mass and with our evening service after the 6:30 pm mass as always your prayers for the faith community of Mercy and their
preacher are greatly appreciated.
Blessings upon everyone today, may your
day be productive, life-giving and gifted by God’s presence. And unlike the
religious leaders of Jesus’ time may you recognize the presence of God in each
moment of your day! Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul
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