31st JULY.FRIDAY IN WEEK 17

( Feast: Saint Ignatius of Loyola)

1.Leviticus 23:1,4-11

2.Matthew 13:54-58

Ignatius (1491-1556), a Spanish knight from a Basque noble family, became a hermit and later a priest, who in 1539 founded the society of Jesus (Jesuits) and was a major figure in the counter- reformation. Loyola’s devotion to the Church was marked by absolute obedience to the pope, with a solemn promise made by all Jesuits to go out on mission to wherever the pope would send them. His Spiritual Exercises, based on contemplation of the life of Christ have so influenced Catholic Spirituality that pope pius XI declared Ignatius the patron of spiritual retreats.

REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS

"Familiarity breeds contempt"

It is our common experience that once we become familiar with people we had not known before, the sense of curiosity to know more about such people get lost because of being too familiar with such people. At times the people who seem to be ordinary to us are regarded as the ones who cannot contribute anything pertaining to our lives. From the gospel today we hear that when Jesus returns to his home town of Nazareth, the towns people recognize him as the son of the carpenter, whose mother, Mary, and whose brothers and sisters are known to them. He is of their own, just like themselves.

Jesus’ own natives refused to accept his teaching under the following for three reasons: First because he is a working man. He worked with His hands in wood, and stone and metal. He fixed doors and windows, built houses, and made plough. Some people then, like today, are still occupied with the idea that those who work with their hands without sitting in public offices are incapable of any intellectual activities which could command respect. Just look around at our brothers and sisters who secure their daily living through manual labour, such people are less respected compared to those who work in public offices and public industries. The gospel today invites each one of us to recognize the image of God in them continuing creation through what they do.

The second reason per why Jesus was rejected was because he was so close to them as their neighbour. He is merely a lay man. And the third reason made them to reject him was because of his family as already mentioned above. He was related to some of the townspeople. His own people regarded him as Joseph’s kid or may be as a baby conceived illegitimately. Their past image about Jesus distracted them from seeing his proper identity as the messiah. Likewise, it the lessons to us all that we are sometimes distracted not to believe what our own friends and close relatives do because of our past memories concerning them. We need to understand that what matters is the message of an individual, we should never attack the personality of the persona delivering the message, and rather we should look and go into the contents and relevance of the message to our lives.

However, in other ways he is not like themselves. The town people of Nazareth are astonished at his wisdom and miraculous powers. They wonder where could have got all these from. They were mystified by him. This is the fundamental mystery of Jesus. He was like us in every way except that he did not sin, he was fully human and yet, there was more to them than that. There was a divine wisdom and power at work with him.

We have to learn a lesson that God came to us in the ordinary, the familiar, in the life of carpenter’s son. That son of the carpenter, that son of Mary, who is also son of God continues to come to us today as risen Lord in and through the familiar and the ordinary. He said to his disciples that “whoever welcomes you, welcomes me.” 

The lesson from this scripture passage is that we need to be humble that we may learn and benefit either spiritually or materially from those people who seem to be ordinary to us. God works miracles to us through our brothers and sisters being familiar to us. We should not let them go without having learned something good from them. Let us learn that the sacred and the secular are not all that far apart; we encounter the sacred in the secular, and the divine in the human. We will never encounter God in people we are not familiar; we encounter him in ordinary men and women of our time.

It surprising that those who should know and welcome Christ are the most ignorant of himself than those who had been privileged to know him before, the doctrines of his word, and the operations of his Spirit.

“Is not his mother-Mary, and his brethren, James.”  This insulting question seems to intimate that our Lord's family was a very obscure one; and that they were of small repute among their neighbours, except for their piety. Accepting people, listening to people with regard to their origin has become the obstacle to achieve both spiritual growth and physical growth. We are invited from the gospel to have a sense of appreciation to our brothers and sisters to whatever they do to us. The sense of an appreciation is not far from thanking our brothers and sisters to whatever they do in their various capacities; as Christian family, our living together will be motivated by appreciating and acknowledging the presence of others in our families and communities and their contribution to our well being. The contribution our brothers and sisters may offer, maybe in form of spiritual things, advice, and material help. By appreciating we empower others to do their best than before.

St. Teresa of Avila, in her “the way of perfection” ( Chapter 12), had said: “ God deliver us from people who wish to serve Him yet who are mindful of their own honour.” When we want to be accepted because it feels good, we are caught in the trap of self-centeredness. St. Teresa called it  the temptation of “ vainglory” ( vanity); to do God’s will and then expect others to praise us for it is a “ poison” that is “ fatal to perfection,” it destroys the love and holiness within us. Thus we should want nothing but to please God and we should expect no reward but His happiness.