Gospel : Mark 9 : 38 – 48
Year B
John, one of the twelve, said to Jesus ….
John is the one who will best understand Your message of love, but for the moment, he is still a prisoner of his human impulses. His spirit remains narrow, intolerant …. even if it is motivated by love of You …It is a love poorly understood!
We have seen someone casting out evil spirits in Your name …
This is something good … which invites us to joy, to thanksgiving. But that is not John’s idea: we wanted to stop him. And the motive for this is clear; he is not one of our followers! He is not in our ‘Group’ …..
I can’t throw stones at him. Do I not sometimes have the same mentality? Is there not deep within me a sort of superiority complex (consciously or not)? I believe that my ideas are the best, I think that I alone, or more so than others, have the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit! …. So I am deaf to what others can say and blind to what they do.
Jesus answered : do not stop him!
And You explain : Whoever is not against us is for us. You reject every spirit of the ivory tower, of the ghetto. The Spirit of God is not the privileged property of one Church, of one group. He blows wherever He wills (Jn. 3:8), He spreads Himself out through the entire universe. Let us share the vastness of Your view, Lord. Enlarge our hearts to the dimensions of Yours. Teach us to see all that is beautiful and good, throughout the world …. to make us wonder at even the least of the positive things that others have and praise the Father of Heaven for them ….
Through the celebration of the Eucharist, give us Your Spirit, Lord. May He make us into a permanent praise to the glory of the Father!
