The opening saying of Jesus in today’s
gospel reading might strike us as strange, ‘Do not suppose that I have come to
bring peace to the earth; it is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword’.
Jesus recognizes that His presence on earth will be divisive; some will welcome
him and others will reject him and those who reject him will persecute those
who welcome him. He goes on to elaborate on how we can welcome him. He says to
those he sends out as his followers, ‘anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and
those who welcome me welcome the one who sent me’. All of us who have been
baptized are always being sent out by Jesus as His mirror. In welcoming each
other, we are welcoming Jesus, and in welcoming Jesus we are welcoming God the
Father. Jesus identifies himself very closely with each one of his followers,
to such an extent that how we relate to each other determines how we relate to
him. Even the smallest act of kindness to another disciple of Jesus, such as
the giving of a cup of cold water, will not go unnoticed by the Lord. The Lord
whom we are to prefer more than even our closest family members nonetheless
comes to us in and through each other. The ground which we share with our
fellow pilgrims is a holy ground, sacred space, where the Lord is present.
By Sr. Mary, CM.
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