"Imitate Christ in his forgiveness and compassion."  

 

St. Jerome, priest and doctor

 

1st Reading

Zechariah 8:20-23

The Lord, the God of hosts speaks, "Peoples will come from other nations,

people from great cities. The inhabitants of one town will talk with those of another,

and say: 'Come, let us go and implore the favor of the Lord, and I, too, will seek the Lord.

Many great peoples and powerful nations will come, seeking the Lord, God of hosts,

in Jerusalem and pray to him."

The Lord, the God of hosts assures you, "In those days, ten men of different languages spoken in various lands,

will take hold of a Jew by the hem of his garment and say: We, too, want to go with you,

for we have heard that God is with you."

 

Gospel

Luke 9:51-56

As the time drew near when Jesus would be taken up to heaven, he made up his mind to go to Jerusalem.

He sent ahead of him some messengers, who entered a Samaritan village to prepare a lodging for him.

But the people would not receive him, because he was on his way to Jerusalem.

Seeing this, James and John, his disciples, said,

"Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to reduce them to ashes?"

Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village.

 

Reflection

"Imitate Christ in his forgiveness and compassion."

Saint Jerome taught that "ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ,"

so the first place we should go to get to know Jesus is the Bible.

We should meditate regularly on God's Word and listen to what he is saying to us through the Scriptures.

We will recognize the foretelling of Christ in the Old Testament and see the fulfilment of God's saving promises in the New Testament,

as he sends his Son to save us. Isaiah describes the Messiah as the one who will not break the crushed reed (Isaiah 42:3).

Jesus doesn't condemn people for their faults, but pardons them and calls them to conversion and new life. The people of the Samaritan village do not wish to receive Jesus.

They are not open to his message, but he doesn't respond to the rejection with anger, as his disciples do.

James and John are outraged by the refusal and want to call down fire from heaven to burn up the town,

but Jesus challenges their anger and moves on to another town. As disciples of Christ,

we are to imitate him in his forgiveness and compassion, rather than storing up hurt or retaliating against others in fury.