Reading 1: – Numbers 11: 25 – 29
Psalm: 19: 8 – 14
Reading 2: James 5: 1 -6
Gospel: Mark 9:38 – 48
When we are young we need those people in our lives who can speak truth to us, people who can
help us to see challenges, hardships and sometimes deception that we experience in our day
today lives. I was blessed to have a wonderful priest in my collage times, who was teaching
religion. Something that he taught, that resonates my heart even now, he not only spoke words
having not only knowledge of the scripture but one believe and speaking the truth from his heart
in a convincing way.
We see the challenges so often in higher education, as many of children and grand children
receive higher education, is that can be various philosophy, ways of thinking, and those things
can be taken as new truth as if it is better that is handed on to us, perhaps we know from our
experience and as go grow older we have to navigate and search through what is truth, what has
been said, we see in our first reading and in our Gospel today an young man coming to Moses
needing guidance.
John one of the disciple asking this question to Jesus , “master we see someone who does not
follow us is casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he was not
following us.” But Jesus said “Do not stop him, for no one who does a deed of power in my
name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me”. Whoever is not against us is for us.
The disciples assumed, that it wasn’t of God, So Moses need to instruct them. Moses sets up
how important for us to follow what God has revealed to us in and through his Son Jesus and
through Scripture and traditions.
God has blessed us to see through and set things. As we reflect and think of those people who
have been helpful in our journey, we may look back in our life and see how in our first reading
today the young man goes to Moses and complains that Elidad and Medad are prophesying in the
camp”. Then Moses instructs him. Today’s world is really hard to sort out things, what all
things are going on, so man y of us who are adults and elders, there are so many messages, there
are so many true and false prophets, like we had in Old Testament. Jesus of course the real ,
true shepherd leads us to the Gospel of love. God has revealed us in scripture and traditions that
Jesus is the fulfillment of that beautiful revelation. So it’s important that when we measure the
things in the world, that face us today, social media, the messages, all kinds of information that
we receive we should always bring them to the Lord in prayer and ask God’s light to see truth
to help us to see what is not making us sense.
In the world that there is so much energy to steer- up people’s emotions. We allow our reason to
be able to look at things we are able to see things, spiritually and we cannot see things clearly
when there is deceptions and uncertainty.
Seeing his disciples, getting worried and angry against people’s religious, spiritual and
philanthropic achievements outside their camp, says to them: “Do not prevent them.” Why?
According to Jesus there are two requirements of love to be in the good book or holy campus of
God, who is love. First he says: “There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who
can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.” By means of this
Jesus points out to us that, they are not “against” him, who do not positively combat the faith and
its values, namely, they do not willingly place themselves against God. There is deep down in
their hearts a true love for God.
There are prophets in the world today who are sending all kinds of messages. When God is the
truth and when we abide in God we abide in truth and when we aide in truth there is great interior
peace and joy. We pray for all false prophets to allow their hearts to receive truth , peace which
come s from God alone.
Let us love the Lord our God wholeheartedly and express this love through our lovable sharing of
our treasure, time and talents with those who are still struggling for their basic needs to be
fulfilled. Our church is never tired of reminding and inducing our people inside the camp of
Jesus to truly worship God and love him in our neighbors, especially through our charities. Let
us go on doing these charities with no interval and in smiling way.
God bless. Have a blessed day.