THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME A
GOD FORSAKEN NO MORE
MT 4:12-17
MESSAGE
When a friend recently spent some days visiting Cebu, I suggested that he dine at a restaurant that had just been awarded Michelin-guide status. My friend, buoyed by curiosity, did visit the place but was amused to learn that, according to locals, the restaurant was in an area of the city with a reputation for being less secure and orderly. It made me wonder why Michelin would choose to venture into such a spot.
We are just a few weeks past Christmas, when we celebrated the movement of the Son of God from heaven to earth – an astonishing divine decision. Now we hear of the Lord Jesus at the start of his ministry, moving around Israel, away from the purity of Judea and toward the ill-reputed Galilee. This region was disdained by religious leaders as less sophisticated, less religiously pure, and even using an inferior language. By doing this, the Lord is making clear the motif of his public life. He is showing the trajectory of his mission, which is directed toward the poor, the marginalized, and the outcast.
Jesus is “God from God, light from light,” and his intention was to shine on those who dwelt in darkness, those overshadowed by death, as the prophet proclaimed. His choice of Galilee reveals the heart of his mission: a call to conversion, not for the righteous but for sinners, not for the healthy but for the sick, not for the perfect but for those who struggle.
I heard a monk say in an interview, when asked if God was more pleased with the prayers of the holy than with the prayers of someone in mortal sin, that God does not distinguish between prayers. He is pleased with all prayer as long as it comes from a sincere heart.
REFLECT
Do you sometimes feel that you always miss the mark, that you fall short of the goal of a holy and blameless life? Do you think that God is far from you because of this? Take heart in the gospel message today. It is precisely in the darkness of sin that the Son of God chooses to come and dwell, to walk and relate with his people. He never tires of calling us to repentance and new life.
