Posted by The WORD in other words (2022) by Fr Dante Barril SVD – Rome
Saturday 29th Week in Ordinary Time
Some in Judaism believe that those who suffer are sinners, hence are punished. And those who are well are righteous, thus are blessed. The people who approached Jesus it seems had this belief. In fact, in the Greek original, they did not simply “tell” Jesus about the Galileans who perished, but they “apaggelló” (ἀπαγγέλλω) him. Literally, they “evangelized” him.
Jesus, however, destroys their “gospel” and shakes their “self-righteousness.” According to him, the perdition suffered by those they thought were “sinners” was not because they were greater sinners than the others. Indirectly, he judges them to be sinners themselves when he warned them, “if you do not repent, you will all perish.”
They approached Jesus feeling high and mighty and “preachy,” only to be told to their faces that they are sinners and they will perish if they don’t repent. Their shock rendered them speechless.
We remember today St. John Paul II, who was old, weak, and sick before our eyes for a long time. The sight of his fragility was never a shock but an inspiration. He showed how to bear the cross with grace. We thank God for this old, suffering saint’s witness of faith.
As the eucharistia is also missa, our mission is to be people of compassion. To not judge others because of their suffering, but to suffer with them as penance. Compassion is love in action. And “love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pt 4:8).
