Posted by The WORD in other words (2016) by Fr. Nelson Barbarona, SVD (Japan)
Tuesday 24th Week in Ordinary Time
An unfortunate young doctor met his death while he was working overtime in his office. A week after the burial, his mother, a devout Catholic, came to me and said; “After I lost my son, I could still feel his presence at home. I see his images inside our house.”
Like the mother here in my parish, the widow in the gospel also lost her young son. But when Jesus saw her weeping, with heartfelt compassion, he raised her son back to life to the amazement of the people.
Today we are reminded of Jesus’ words, “I desire compassion not sacrifice (Mt. 9:13).” Jesus himself is very compassionate not only to those who are weeping but to those who are in dire needs. The Scripture is quite clear that God takes no pleasure in the death of anyone (Ez. 33:11), hence, the Lord desires life, not death.
Jesus wants us to be compassionate to others. Being compassionate is not simply sympathizing but empathizing with the suffering. Whenever our neighbors suffer, Jesus also suffers. Thus, Jesus’ concern is our concern and His love is our love. In this sense, through the grace of our Lord, we as Christians, not see only and feel but do the best we can just as Jesus did for humanity.
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