Friday, January 20, 2012

2nd Week, Ordinary Time, Saturday, 21-01-12

2 Samuel 1:1-4, 11-12, 17,19, 23-27 / Mark 3:20-21

When someone does something that is out of the ordinary, there can be various reactions to it.

For example, if a talented and intelligent young person gives up a bright and promising (and also a financially rewarding) career to care for the aged and children with special needs, some people might think it is such a waste.

Maybe the reason is that in our minds, there is this concept of matching of resources with productivity.

Hence in our minds a person with a doctorate should be either lecturing in the university or doing some high profile research and having some kind of social status.

Anything different will be out of the ordinary for us and we will instinctively react to it.

In the gospel, we heard that the relatives of Jesus thought that He was out of His mind when they came to know what He was doing and what was happening to Him.

Yet whenever we do something out of the ordinary or something extraordinary, there will be people who will think that we are out of our minds.

Furthermore, when we do it for the love of God, we better be prepared to see some people shake their heads and even scorn at us.

Hence in all that we do, we need to examine ourselves and ask : Am I doing this for the love of God and for the good of the people around me?

Regardless of whether it is ordinary or extraordinary, we must do it out of love for God and neighbour.