Fr. Louis Birabaluge, SX
TENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Today’s gospel account is really touching for its happy end. Let us just imagine a woman, powerless, helpless and deprived of the support and companionship of her husband. She is a widow. Furthermore, her only son, a young man, full of energy and life, is taken from her by death. What misery for this poor widow! But also, how lucky she is! She is fortunate to meet with the Saviour, the Author of life, the visible face of the compassionate Father: Jesus Christ.
Indeed, without asking anything of Jesus, “the Lord saw her and felt sorry for her”. Like the Good Samaritan’s compassion (Lk 10: 33), Jesus was deeply moved”. Jesus felt compassion when he saw the pain and sorrow of the poor widow. This is Jesus, the Son of God in whom we believe. He does not wait to see our tears and shouts of sorrow in order to come to our help. Human prophets, like Elijah, may wait for our tears to come to console us, but not God . In the midst of pain, sadness and despair, God sees us and comes close to us. He restores hope and life. This is what Jesus did for the widow. This is what he does for each of us. Here is the “good news for this Sunday”, for us today (Lk 4: 21)
But the Gospel is always God's news and invitation to conversion (Mk 1: 15). Through baptism we share the life of Jesus. We have received the Spirit of God in order to live like Jesus, to be compassionate like him, like our heavenly Father (Lk 6:36). Shall we remember that according to the Fathers of the Church, pagans are not necessarily those who do not know God and his Son Jesus. There are many people with a “heart of stone”, a heart without compassion. Are we not invited today to ask God to grant us a heart able to feel sorry, a heart able to be touched by the suffering of others?
According to the Gospel, compassion is not to be confused with mere feelings or fine words. To be real, compassion needs to show action. As Elijah in the first reading and Jesus in the Gospel, we are called “to give back the young boy, alive, to his mother (Lk 7: 15)”; which means to transform our feelings into compassionate actions. And this has to be done here and now because those who are suffering cannot wait.
There is a saying in Cameroon: “Cry for me now”. It means, do not wait until the day of my death to cry for me. Care for me while I am still alive. This saying is relevant for us today. We are living in a context where some people waste huge amounts of money to organize funerals or to “pull sara”, as it is customary here in Sierra Leone: to celebrate the 40 days of a beloved one who has passed away. Why should we wait for someone to die, and then to organise a big feast? Shouldn’t we invest the money in providing for him good health care? Shouldn’t we visit him, be close to him while he is still alive and suffering? This is the real meaning of “crying for someone here and now”! This is the compassion Jesus has taught us.
Dying is part of human destiny. In faith, we hope and believe that those who share, through baptism, the death of Jesus, will also share his resurrection. They will die no more. If we can do nothing to bring back our dear ones after they die, we can at least spare them a premature death by being close to them and assisting them while they are still alive. Here, we all have something to do, because those who are close to death are many around us: the hungry, the homeless, the hopeless...!
May this jubilee year of mercy become for us an opportunity to become compassionate, for us, who today hear this Gospel and share the body and blood of Christ. May we rediscover and practice the 7 corporal works of mercy: to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, visit the prisoners, and bury the dead.
TENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Today’s gospel account is really touching for its happy end. Let us just imagine a woman, powerless, helpless and deprived of the support and companionship of her husband. She is a widow. Furthermore, her only son, a young man, full of energy and life, is taken from her by death. What misery for this poor widow! But also, how lucky she is! She is fortunate to meet with the Saviour, the Author of life, the visible face of the compassionate Father: Jesus Christ.
Indeed, without asking anything of Jesus, “the Lord saw her and felt sorry for her”. Like the Good Samaritan’s compassion (Lk 10: 33), Jesus was deeply moved”. Jesus felt compassion when he saw the pain and sorrow of the poor widow. This is Jesus, the Son of God in whom we believe. He does not wait to see our tears and shouts of sorrow in order to come to our help. Human prophets, like Elijah, may wait for our tears to come to console us, but not God . In the midst of pain, sadness and despair, God sees us and comes close to us. He restores hope and life. This is what Jesus did for the widow. This is what he does for each of us. Here is the “good news for this Sunday”, for us today (Lk 4: 21)
But the Gospel is always God's news and invitation to conversion (Mk 1: 15). Through baptism we share the life of Jesus. We have received the Spirit of God in order to live like Jesus, to be compassionate like him, like our heavenly Father (Lk 6:36). Shall we remember that according to the Fathers of the Church, pagans are not necessarily those who do not know God and his Son Jesus. There are many people with a “heart of stone”, a heart without compassion. Are we not invited today to ask God to grant us a heart able to feel sorry, a heart able to be touched by the suffering of others?
According to the Gospel, compassion is not to be confused with mere feelings or fine words. To be real, compassion needs to show action. As Elijah in the first reading and Jesus in the Gospel, we are called “to give back the young boy, alive, to his mother (Lk 7: 15)”; which means to transform our feelings into compassionate actions. And this has to be done here and now because those who are suffering cannot wait.
There is a saying in Cameroon: “Cry for me now”. It means, do not wait until the day of my death to cry for me. Care for me while I am still alive. This saying is relevant for us today. We are living in a context where some people waste huge amounts of money to organize funerals or to “pull sara”, as it is customary here in Sierra Leone: to celebrate the 40 days of a beloved one who has passed away. Why should we wait for someone to die, and then to organise a big feast? Shouldn’t we invest the money in providing for him good health care? Shouldn’t we visit him, be close to him while he is still alive and suffering? This is the real meaning of “crying for someone here and now”! This is the compassion Jesus has taught us.
Dying is part of human destiny. In faith, we hope and believe that those who share, through baptism, the death of Jesus, will also share his resurrection. They will die no more. If we can do nothing to bring back our dear ones after they die, we can at least spare them a premature death by being close to them and assisting them while they are still alive. Here, we all have something to do, because those who are close to death are many around us: the hungry, the homeless, the hopeless...!
May this jubilee year of mercy become for us an opportunity to become compassionate, for us, who today hear this Gospel and share the body and blood of Christ. May we rediscover and practice the 7 corporal works of mercy: to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, visit the prisoners, and bury the dead.