Thursday of XXXIII/A
We continue to pray "Lord, let me see." We want to see Jesus and recognize Him as the one who passes by, offering us peace. Both Barthimeus and Zaccheus have taught us that the proper response is to get closer to Jesus in order to "see" Him, "to encounter Him-who-can-change-our lives. In today's Gospel, Jesus cries as He looks at Jerusalem. In His tears there are centuries of history of faithfulness and indifference from His people. History of Love that God has poured out on them.
In His words, filled with the lament of a heartbroken lover, there is a call to shake off indifference, to stop looking only at ourselves and think of the consequences of keeping ourselves locked in the walls of our own lives.
Jesus sheds new light on an old temptation: to think only about ourselves, and build walls around us. Slowly but surely, we keep people out, we become less interested in the events of the world. Eventually, even God doesn't have permission to pass through the walls. Jesus' warning is stern but it's given for our wellbeing: watch it, because someone stronger will come and destroy your walls and you won't survive.
The story of the Maccabees continue to inspire me and I find that their story and their struggles are similar to ours today. After Eliazar the Elder and the Mother and seven sons, we now look at Matthatias and his sons. He is tempted with gold. How often we, too, compromise our faith thinking that "business is business," and therefore whatever happens in the workplace is justified because "it's tough out there." We compromise our faith for our carrier advancement, too. "If I really want that position, who cares if I say something evil or make something up about the other candidate. After all, if I get that job, i will get more more and if i get more money, i will be able to help my family and my kids to go to college ... and doesn't God want me to send my children to college? Then, it's ok if I do what I do." The end justify the means.
No, no it doesn't. Jesus invites us to more active in our faith and make a choice to live our lives as a Christian.
The Maccabees start a revolution that will change their society. We need to start another one. Certainly not by using swords (let's keep in mind that God had not yet commanded us to "keep our swords in the sheath" ) by the most powerful weapon we have: love.
Today, let's bear witness to God even and especially in difficult environments. Who knows, maybe a kind words to a nasty co-worker may change the whole day. Let's start a competition, today: let's see who is the most creative i creating a loving response to hostility. Something tells me that the Maccabees will smile at us today and let's us them to help us to "recognize the time of our visitation" by the Lord.
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