Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
It is Christ, inside us, to love
But the Pharisees went out and took counsel against him to put him to death. When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place. Many (people) followed him, and he cured them all, but he warned them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight; I shall place my spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope.” Mt 12,14-21
“Many (people) followed him, and he cured them all…. A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will quench”. We are faced with a sweetness, a mercy and a love for the neighbor which amaze us for their endless magnitude. If these are the feelings of Jesus, how can it be possible for the christian to be the image of Christ? What is the way forward to show to the world an image of the Son of God not too distorted? We cannot think to depend on the human language, exploiting the best of our natural qualities, the energy or the contagious enthusiasm of our disposition. We would collect attraction and certainly there will be a quantity of personal satisfactions. But is that what God wants from us? To bring a christian message, in fact, we have to communicate with him, not with ourselves. To make this to happen Christ must live in us, and we must be in an humble, daily listening to his word. This is not excluding us from the world in which we operate, but it enlightens us with his light, allowing us to make a constant and courageous witnessing. We are called to convert and to make ourselves dying in him, every day. Otherwise, how can we bring a message of resurrection if before we do not die in Christ? It is Christ living in us who saves us every day and through us he announces the salvation to the people which we encounter every day down the road. If we are not witnesses in this way, we would be only arrogant mercenaries. Just leaving that the Lord loves the neighbor in us, we will be sure to love him all the way, without stopping in front of the bark of the human weaknesses, because to love means loving always, up to the final end. Mary Magdalene, Zacchaeus, Matthew would have remained public sinners, condemned to the malice of the people, if they would have not met the love of the Lord. Even in the worst men an immortal soul lives, which has fallen asleep like the foolish virgins. The christian is called to wake it up, because it can also come to the wedding with the Lord, together with the wise virgins.