First reading Isaiah 48:17-19
If you had been alert to my commandments, your happiness would have been like a river
Thus says the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
I, the Lord, your God, teach you what is good for you,
I lead you in the way that you must go.
If only you had been alert to my commandments,
your happiness would have been like a river,
your integrity like the waves of the sea.
Your children would have been numbered like the sand,
your descendants as many as its grains.
Never would your name have been cut off or blotted out before me.
Responsorial Psalm 1:1-4,6
Anyone who follows you, O Lord, will have the light of life.
Happy indeed is the man
who follows not the counsel of the wicked;
nor lingers in the way of sinners
nor sits in the company of scorners,
but whose delight is the law of the Lord
and who ponders his law day and night.
He is like a tree that is planted
beside the flowing waters,
that yields its fruit in due season
and whose leaves shall never fade;
and all that he does shall prosper.
Not so are the wicked, not so!
For they like winnowed chaff
shall be driven away by the wind:
for the Lord guards the way of the just
but the way of the wicked leads to doom.
Gospel Matthew 11:16-19
They heed neither John nor the Son of Man
Jesus spoke to the crowds: ‘What description can I find for this generation? It is like children shouting to each other as they sit in the market place:
“We played the pipes for you,
and you wouldn’t dance;
we sang dirges,
and you wouldn’t be mourners.”
‘For John came, neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He is possessed.” The Son of Man came, eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” Yet wisdom has been proved right by her actions.’
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In joy and sadness, God is present
In the gospel today, Jesus compared the people around Him to a group of children playing in the marketplace. Like the children in the marketplace, his contemporaries were not easy to please. John the Baptist preached repentance, but they refused to listen to Him and regarded him as “possessed”. Jesus spoke about the joy of God’s love, but they accused Him of being “a friend of tax collectors and sinners”.
God comes to us in ways beyond our expectations. In moments of mourning and sadness, He is there. In happy moments of celebration and gladness, He is present to us. All we need is to be open and respond to His coming. As we pray, let us tell Jesus, “Come, Lord Jesus. Come and stay with me in times of joy and sadness”.
Reflective question:
Am I open and attentive to God’s presence in my life?
Am I open and attentive to God’s presence in my life?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year C” by Sr Sandra Seow FMVD.
