St. John of the Cross, priest & doctor

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Numbers 24:2-7, 15-17a

 He looked up and saw Israel camping,

Tribe by tribe; and the spirit of God came upon him and he uttered his song: “Word of Balaam, son of Beor, the seer, the one who hears the words of God, and beholds the vision of the Almighty, in ecstasy, with eyes unveiled.

 How goodly are your tents, Jacob, your encampments, Israel!  Like valleys stretching far, like gardens beside a stream, like aloes planted by Yahweh, like cedars beside the waters.  His buckets are overflowing and his seeds are always watered. His king becomes stronger than Agag, and his kingdom grows.

 

Ps 25:4-5ab, 6 & 7bc, 8-9

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Matthew 21:23-27

 Jesus had entered the Temple and was teaching when the chief priests, the teachers of the Law and the Jewish authorities came to him and asked, “What authority have you to act like this? Who gave you authority to do all this?”

 Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you a question, only one. And if you give me an answer, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. When John began to baptize, was it a work of God, or was it merely something human?”

 They reasoned out among themselves, “If we reply that it was a work of God, he will say: Why, then, did you not believe him? And if we say: The bap­tism of John was merely something human, beware of the people: since all hold John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”

And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what right I do these things.”

 

Gospel Reflection：

The Jews in Jesus’ time ｗere not willing to listen to John the Baptist, the last of the prophets. We, too, may miss the lessons that God may be teaching us in the events of our lives. So we must indeed pray, “Teach me your ways, O Lord.”

Our Saint of today, St. John of the Cross, is a great teacher of the ways of the Lord. He is one Saint who plumbed the depths of the ways of the Lord. He understood and lived the way of the Lord, the way of the Cross! When we reflect on the life of St.

John of the Cross we cannot but be amazed at how he embraced the Cross. Humiliation, suffering, darkness was the path of sanctification for John of the Cross. Thus, our prayer is ultimately:”Lord, teach me to welcome the Cross in my life.”

The way of the Lord is the “via crucis.” But we do not need to go looking for extraordinary suffering. We have quite enough of our daily ordinary trials and difficulties. Often it is just that we complain too quickly at every discomfort or difficulty. Instead, we must see these little crosses as “the way of the Lord!”