Tuesday, September 17, 2002
24th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: 1 Cor 12:12-14, 27-31
Gospel: Lk 7:11-17
Jesus went to a town called Naim and many of his disciples went with
him - a great number of people. As he reached the gate of the town, a
dead man was being carried out. He was the only son of his mother and
she was a widow; there followed a large crowd of townspeople.
On seeing her, the Lord had pity on her and said, "Don't cry."
Then he came up and touched the stretcher and the men who carried it stopped.
Jesus then said, "Young man, awake, I tell you." And the dead
man got up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. A holy
fear came over them all and they praised God saying, "A great prophet
has appeared among us; God has visited his people." This news spread
out in the Jewish country and the surrounding places.
Commentary
In the olden times orphans and widows stood low in the rung of society. They were easy preys of exploitation and deprivation. That is why, to do justice meant among other things, to defend them and to see to their sustenance. Before the funeral cortege, Luke depicts Jesus to be a great prophet who manifests the justice of God. His entrails (Greek, splangchna = womb) were moved, as a mother who cannot stand being unaffected by a pathetic situation of her children. As church people, we can act more prophetically when the poor people's state of injustice deeply affects us. How many of us have become calloused because of our distance from the actual lives of our people?