Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Scripture

Today’s gospel passage from Luke features Jesus, seemingly chastising the crowd. Drawing on the Old Testament stories of Jonah and Solomon, Jesus is trying to communicate that he is the sign. Jesus is the revelation of God’s love for his people. But rather than recognizing that, the people continue to seek something more exciting. Jesus’ reference to Jonah indicates that Jesus too calls the people to repent of their evil ways, chief of which is not prioritizing God. Hence he also refers to Solomon’s wisdom, indicating that Jesus is greater than Solomon. The people are called to acknowledge Jesus as God’s love incarnate. And in the face of that God, they ought to repent in order to seek him more fully.

We too are called to appreciate Jesus as the sign and to embrace penance that we may grow closer to him and seek him more fully. St. Paul seems to recognize this is his letter to the Romans, from which our first reading is taken today. Paul describes himself as a “slave of Christ Jesus” (Rom 1:1), and it is clear that he sees his mission as trying to deepen the commitment of those who are “called to belong to Jesus Christ” and are “called to be holy” (Rom 1:6-7).
 
We are the people who are called to belong to Jesus Christ and are called to be holy. It may be hard for us to embrace this truth. On the one hand, we may dislike the language of “slave,” and not want, like Paul, to describe ourselves as slaves to Christ. On the other hand, we may feel that we are unworthy and unable of such a calling, for we are sinful and fall many times.
 
We must recognize, then, that to be a slave to Christ is to experience true freedom. For we are most ourselves when we are closest to him. We must also recognize the importance of repentance. If we can acknowledge our sins and perform actions that show our sorrow for those sins, then we do not need to be afraid of God rejecting us for our failings. God’s grace will make up for all that is lacking; God can write straight with crooked lines, as the saying goes.
 
Today, let us take some time to recognize Jesus as God’s love in the flesh. We are called to respond to the love offered to us, knowing that God’s grace can meet us wherever we are. Let us not be afraid of repentance, but let us see all our sufferings as opportunities to grow closer to God. We are called to be holy. How do we see ourselves growing in holiness? What obstacles do
we have to this?
 
- Maria Morrow