Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Friends,

Last Sunday we contemplated the envy and jealousy that can be found in the hearts of even Jesus’ closest friends. We saw the disciples arguing about who amongst them is the greatest, and then we heard Jesus teach what true greatness looks like: to serve others with humility of heart. In today’s Gospel, we again see Jesus correcting and teaching his disciples. This time, John is complaining that someone from outside their group was driving out demons in Jesus’ name. He tells Jesus that they tried to prevent him, but Jesus corrects them again, saying “Do not prevent him...for whoever is not against us is for us.”

Brothers and sisters, is this not our own experience in our walk as Christ’s disciples? Again and again, we stumble in our pursuit of holiness. We are in need of continual transformation. Before anything else, I think today’s Gospel should encourage us to be patient on the journey. Yes, deeply desire to be perfected in love, to be transformed into Christ’s likeness, but do not fall into discouragement along the way. God is not glaring down on us every time we fall. He personally comes to meet us. He quietly teaches us. He pours His grace into us. He is so intimately concerned with each of our hearts because He longs to make a home for Himself there and He longs for us to experience the freedom of the children of God.

Today, let us also rejoice in the gift of our Catholic Church. She provides us with everything we need along the journey. It is through Her that God continuously floods us with the grace that we “who belong to Christ” are aching for. We are not just given “a cup of water to drink” but we are given intimate access to the fount of living water. Let us pray for conversions back to the Church and let us pray for our own conversions, that we might truly come to understand the gift of the living water present to us in our Catholic Church.

Molly Bent, Athlete Campus Minister