Gospel: Luke 10:13-16
Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! So many miracles have been worked in you! If the same miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would already be sitting in ashes and wearing the sackcloth of repentance. Surely for Tyre and Sidon it will be better on the Day of Judgment than for you. And what of you, city of Capernaum? Will you be lifted up to heaven? You will be thrown down to the place of the dead.
Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me; and he who rejects me, rejects the one who sent me.”

Reflections
“Whoever listens to you listens to me.”
There are harsh consequences when one closes one’s heart and life to God. And closing one’s heart and life to God means rejection of and resisting CHANGE. It is an imperative for the life of one who knows Jesus and who professes faith in Jesus to transform. This is why knowing Jesus only is not enough and accepting Jesus only also is not enough. It must result to a revolution that leads to authentic, if not dramatic, conversion. One good example can be seen in the life of the saint we celebrate today, St. Francis of Assisi whose life of conversion is much to be admired as a result of knowing Jesus.
We too have encountered Jesus and are in fact, encountering Jesus still in many ways. But if that encounter does not move us into becoming the best that we can be as his followers, we are no better than Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. But if that encounter inspires us to live better lives, with unwavering commitment to Christ like St. Francis, ours will be a great reward on the Day of Judgment.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019