OMELIE / Omelie EN

07 lug 2024

07/07/2024 - 14th Sunday in O. T. - B

07/07/2024 - 14^th Sunday in O. T. - B

Reading 1 EZ 2,2-5 Psalm 122 Reading 2 2COR 12,7-10 Gospel MK 6,1-6

In today’s reading the apostle Saint Paul is giving us some personal news. He feels a great suffering which is constantly tormenting him, “a thorn in the flesh was given to me”: however, he is not satisfying our curiosity by telling us what it is. All we need to learn is how he is facing a situation of continuous suffering. First of all, he is explaining his pain as “an angel of Satan, [sent] to beat me”. He knows that the sufferings are not coming from the God of love, but from the enemy, which is trying everything to stop the spreading of the Gospel.

Saint Paul reacts first of all with prayers: “Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me”. The Lord does not grant this to him, as he wanted, He leaves him in his suffering, because he can serve Him by suffering as well, nay, even better: “Power is made perfect in weakness”. The disciple who suffers and is even prevented from announcing the Gospel, and despite this hopes and smiles, gives to the world a living proof of how great and admirable is God’s strength, of how attractive and rich in fruit is a life lived in communion with the Lord Jesus.

Once understood this, the apostle does not ask anymore to the Lord to be freed, but he boasts about his weaknesses, may they be sickness or persecutions, difficulties or anguish. Saint Paul’s example is precious for us at many times when we are tempted to lose courage because we are not capable to do what we would like for the Lord.

Jesus Himself has experienced a «weakness» while He was announcing the kingdom of God. His weakness was about being known since His childhood, about being known as the carpenter of the village, as this or that relative of other people’s. Those who knew His as so, were prevented from welcoming the Word of God coming from His mouth.

They who knew Him as the relative or the childhood friend or the carpenter could not see in Him the newness of the divine life. This knowledge was an obstacle, “scandal” for the faith of His acquaintances.

For Jesus this was a weakness which was preventing Him even from performing miracles in His Nazareth! But this very weakness would become a prophecy, it was part of God’s plan: “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house”. So in fact also Ezekiel’s prophecy was becoming true.

God’s Word is addressed to everyone, also to those who do not want to listen to it. It is not the Word which is wrong, but the listeners, who are looking at the way God’s tool looks, rather than being open towards God Himself, who can and wants to make use of anyone to share His will and His wisdom. He has even used Jonah, who at first had been disobedient and after that was completely lacking mercy. He can use also each one of us, both with us knowing it and willing to help, and with us unaware of it, to share His wisdom with someone and the beauty of His love.

Let us make ours then the prayer of the Psalm: “To you I lift up my eyes who are enthroned in heaven, as the eyes of servant are on the hands of their masters… so are our eyes on the Lord, our God, till he have pity on us”.

May we always look for God’s will: his wisdom in fact is greater than ours, and the love He has for us is way deeper than the one we might have for ourselves!