The “suffering servant” in the First Reading (Isaiah 50:4-9) gets beat up and spit upon, and just sits there and “takes” it without retaliation. Can that relate to me today?
The key to reading this passage is found in the opening verses. The first priority of this Servant is to “listen” to the Lord every morning. How can we know what the Lord wants to say to us today unless we read and meditate (listen) to his inspired word in Holy Scripture? Here is a website you might like to look up to assist you daily, providing a calendar with both the daily Mass readings and a commentary: http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html.
The second thing we learn from the Servant is that meditating on God’s inspired word every morning will empower us to offer a word of hope to others who need to hear good news! This is always the mission of every baptised Catholic – to participate in the mission of Jesus by spreading the good news of his presence, compassion, and unconditional love.
Now comes the hard part. A lot of people don’t want to hear the truth, the good news that Jesus Christ brought to us. So when you attempt to pass on the gospel truth, you may encounter strong resistance. Perhaps you will suffer no physical abuse; but you will certainly be persecuted in other ways for your stand against the evils of our culture of
death – evils such as abortion, contraception, indifference to the poor, attacks on marriage and family, pick-and-choose Christianity, and so on. Are you willing to be shunned, banned, ignored, slandered, and misrepresented – all because you choose to stand up for the Truth? If you say “yes” then you are truly following in the footsteps of Jesus, exactly what a disciple is expected to do – all with the Lord God as your help.
Holy Scripture has always been the source of nourishment and the guiding light of our Christian life. Non-violent resistance is more powerful than violence, demonstrated by the Suffering Servant Jesus Christ (See CCC #601(CCC #141)).
The key to reading this passage is found in the opening verses. The first priority of this Servant is to “listen” to the Lord every morning. How can we know what the Lord wants to say to us today unless we read and meditate (listen) to his inspired word in Holy Scripture? Here is a website you might like to look up to assist you daily, providing a calendar with both the daily Mass readings and a commentary: http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html.
The second thing we learn from the Servant is that meditating on God’s inspired word every morning will empower us to offer a word of hope to others who need to hear good news! This is always the mission of every baptised Catholic – to participate in the mission of Jesus by spreading the good news of his presence, compassion, and unconditional love.
Now comes the hard part. A lot of people don’t want to hear the truth, the good news that Jesus Christ brought to us. So when you attempt to pass on the gospel truth, you may encounter strong resistance. Perhaps you will suffer no physical abuse; but you will certainly be persecuted in other ways for your stand against the evils of our culture of
death – evils such as abortion, contraception, indifference to the poor, attacks on marriage and family, pick-and-choose Christianity, and so on. Are you willing to be shunned, banned, ignored, slandered, and misrepresented – all because you choose to stand up for the Truth? If you say “yes” then you are truly following in the footsteps of Jesus, exactly what a disciple is expected to do – all with the Lord God as your help.
Holy Scripture has always been the source of nourishment and the guiding light of our Christian life. Non-violent resistance is more powerful than violence, demonstrated by the Suffering Servant Jesus Christ (See CCC #601(CCC #141)).
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