I believe you would agree when I say, “The past year was a difficult one for most of us”.
The lockdown of the various state borders and the personal restrictions we all felt was a real diminishment in our way of life.
But there was a positive side to all of that in as much it helped control a virulent pandemic. It made us conscious of the health of one another, and the care that needed to be taken as a way of controlling the deadly virus.
Some countries have suffered great loss of life through the pandemic.
May the thoughtfulness for one another demanded throughout our struggle with the virus be something that might remain with us.
The point I would like to make in reflecting on the three readings from today’s Mass is to highlight the positive attitudes of Paul and Jesus to the needs of others. Their needs are not an imposition to be avoided but an opportunity for us to reach out and to help.
The first reading from the Book of Job emphasises the sheer nuisance that uncontrollable circumstances can create. Poor Job has lost so much and he cannot see anything positive about life.
Okay, he has suffered greatly but his tirade goes on for thirty chapters until he is forced to listen to a wisdom greater than his own.
In the second reading from Paul’s letter to the Christians in Corinth, we hear him speak very positively of his call to preach the gospel: “I made myself all things to all people in order to save some at any cost, and I still do this, for the sake of the gospel, to have a share in its blessings.” God loves a cheerful giver!
In the person of Jesus, as related for us in the Gospel reading, we sense the Presence of One whose life-purpose is to teach, to enlighten, to fill the hearts of those who listen with a hope that will never be withdrawn, and to heal the brokenness of their bodies and their hearts with a graced wholeness that in time will reach out through them to the whole of creation.
Such is our calling! Let us not be afraid or small-minded. God is a Gracious-Giver! A God Who is a Life-Giver!
