In the First Reading (Isaiah 50:4-9) we hear how the “suffering servant” gets beaten up and spat on. He just sits there and “takes” it without retaliation. I’m wondering if this could relate to me in my life 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 each day unless we take the time to read and meditate (listen) to his inspired word which we find in Holy Scripture? Actually, there’s a website to assist your daily contact with Holy Scripture. Although it’s American it still provides a calendar with both the daily Mass reading 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 truths, 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 absolute evils of our culture of death – evils such as abortion, indifference to the poor, attacks on marriage and family, pick-and-choose Christianity, intolerance for migrants and refugees and so on.
Are you willing to be shunned, banned, ignored, slandered, or 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 -with the Lord God, and the Holy Spirit 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 in our first reading today by the Suffering Servant Jesus Christ.
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 each day unless we take the time to read and meditate (listen) to his inspired word which we find in Holy Scripture? Actually, there’s a website to assist your daily contact with Holy Scripture. Although it’s American it still provides a calendar with both the daily Mass reading 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 truths, 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 absolute evils of our culture of death – evils such as abortion, indifference to the poor, attacks on marriage and family, pick-and-choose Christianity, intolerance for migrants and refugees and so on.
Are you willing to be shunned, banned, ignored, slandered, or 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 -with the Lord God, and the Holy Spirit 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 in our first reading today by the Suffering Servant Jesus Christ.
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