Tuesday of Week 23 in Ordinary Time
1 Cor 6:1-11
Lk 6:12-19
…but now you have been washed clean, and sanctified, and justified through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and through the Spirit of our God.
We are all broken, wounded and hurting people. We unintentionally, through our woundedness, wound and hurt those around us.
Many of us seem to have this strong sense of what justice really is, boundaries drawn all so clearly that anything that crosses the line simply crosses the point of no return. We hold firm to what we believe is the truth, what we believe is right, what we believe is what God wants.
But do we truly understand the heart of God?
The readings today give us a glimpse of how foolish we can possibly be. In the first reading, it mentions, “It is bad enough for you to have lawsuits at all against one another: oughtn’t you to let yourselves be wronged, and let yourselves be cheated? But you are doing the wronging and the cheating, and to your own brothers.”
Reading from a third party’s perspective, it’s really laughable to see how the Church of God is fighting amongst ourselves for power, for justice, for what’s ‘best’ for the community. Fighting against ourselves, for ourselves. Our sense of what’s ‘holy’, ‘correctness’ and ‘truth’ seems to be leading us away from God, versus guiding us to Him. We seem to be connected to what we believe is truth versus to be connected to God, who is truth, Himself.
As I prepare for my reflection today, it feels like how in our striving for what’s ‘right’, we are ultimately finding that assurance — that we belong, that we matter, that we are worthy, that we are loved. We seem to be finding a cure for our own hurts and woundedness.
Jesus then shows us in the Gospel, where His disciples weren’t perfect people, just as we are, but they are the ones who were willing to drop their nets to follow Him because they knew He was the Christ. Jesus chose them, even when He knew they would betray Him. Jesus will still choose us today, even when He knows we will betray Him too. But what’s important is that “people from all parts of Judaea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon… (came) to hear him and to be cured of their diseases.”
More than correcting others and pointing out faults, are we bringing others to Christ? Are we ourselves close to Him? For it is only when we are connected to Him that we can connect others to Him and in return, we can then all be connected to one another, bringing His kingdom here on earth. It is then that “People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all.” It is then, that we can all be cured.
Brothers and sisters, le u’s find the cure together. Let’s grow closer together to Christ. Amen.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Benjamin Mao)
Prayer: Dear Lord, we pray for the awareness not to just be right, but to show love. Guide us to how we can continue to heal ourselves as we seek to heal others. Give us the strength and humility to know we are wounded and that through you, we can be healed.
Thanksgiving: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
OXYGEN 
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