
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 7:1-2,10,25-30
Jesus moved about within Galilee; he did not wish to travel in Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill him. But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near. But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret. Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, "Is he not the one they are trying to kill? And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ? But we know where he is from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from." So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, "You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me." So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come.
REFLECTION: " his hour had not yet come."
In my frustrations I ask, "Where is God in this mess?" Though I know, I truly know, that all is in God's hands and timing, my impatience wants it now when I expected it or wanted it. We are told to rejoice in God's will-but it is hard to do when I cannot remove my "I" in His divine plan.
Jesus was walking toward God's Divine Will and in the process took time to teach and to heal. It was not yet His Hour. According to St John Paul II "Christ drew increasingly closer to the world of human suffering." '"He went about doing good. " And we, who want to be Christ like, need to learn from Christ how to accept God's will, how to minister to those whom He loves and how to patiently wait on God. Jesus Christ was showing us how to prepare our souls to enter Heaven.
My first store bought clothes were when I was in college. All my life, my mother's gift of sewing was poured upon me as she made beautiful outfits and coats for me to wear-- for church, every day, Girl Scout camp, etc. I watched as she patiently did her work amidst my complaints, my refusing to try on for the "umpteenth time the outfit" which she had patiently taken all the stitching out and made her corrections. The brat in me was quite frankly "put out" that she demanded so much of my time in the trying on of the outfits. I did not understand her love for me, my eyes were not opened to her sacrifice. The more painful were my objections the more love she poured out.
The sacrifice of Jesus was not fully comprehended until I became a mother. Then I understood what love was and as my children had their own problems , I then appreciated what God had done for me on the Cross and what He continues to do for me and my family in "getting us ready for Heaven."
May our priests understand that we are all at different stages of love. As confessors, may they personalize our confessions and personalize their advice, their care and their penances for us.
God Bless