“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”
Daily Reflections
Thursday, 19th January 2017,
Second Week in the Ordinary Time
Heb 7:25 – 8:6;
Ps 40: 7-10;
Mk 3: 7-12
ON A JOURNEY TO ENCOUNTER JESUS
The first reading reminds us of the eternal sacrifice of Jesus. The Levitical priests were succeeded by others after their own deaths. However, Jesus needs no successor because He lives forever. He requires no replacement. He can see his work of delivering His people through to the end. Our trials and temptations need not separate us from our inheritance since Jesus Christ can continue to support us by providing mercy and grace, all the way to our ultimate reward. What a comfort and assurance it is to realize that Jesus Christ Himself is praying for us constantly!
Today’s gospel passage tells of the enthusiastic reception accorded to Jesus. We see people travelling a long distance seeking Jesus. They had just heard about him and the things he was doing. This moved the people to walk a long distance and approach him with great faith. People are converging on him as the center of attraction. It was a pilgrimage in faith to these people. Pilgrims travel either seeking divine experience or to strengthen the experience they had before. The journey is en-kindled by faith, zeal and expectation. For them, the hurdles on the way are not barriers to reach the person whom they desire to encounter. The people in today’s gospel who traveled a long distance to see and listen to Jesus are an inspiration for us. Are we ready to walk an extra mile seeking Jesus?
If we decide to do so then we have to:
Wake up: We have to rise from our spiritual slumber. We cannot continue as sleep walkers. Because pilgrimage is a journey of those who are fully aware of their movement.
Give up: As we begin our spiritual pilgrimage to experience Jesus, we have to give up unnecessary luggage of the mind which might pull us back on the way.
Look up: As we continue on our journey when we are tempted to return let us look up to those people who have been successful in their pilgrimage.
Build up: Every step towards Jesus is an occasion to build up our relationship with him and with others. In this journey we do not walk alone, but we walk along with others.
Prayer: Lord, I thank You for giving me the grace to encounter you. Lord, I thank You for your eternal sacrifice You offer for me. May I wake up from my slumber. May I give up all that is not You or not for You. May I look up to You alone. And may I build up my relationship with You. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.