"Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might
bestow his spirit on them all!” (Numbers 11:25)
As we fly east into the night over the desert, a quick reflection for this
Sunday:
I think back to the verse above from today's first reading. Would that we all
be blessed! God wants his blessings to fall down on all his children, but both
Joshua and John in today's readings feel a bit of jealousy because others are
doing the things that they have been called to do. Why are we constantly
looking around and counting someone else's blessings when we should be thanking
God for ours? When we see a brother or a sister doing good works in the name of
Jesus, there should be no jealousy or envy in our hearts. We should rejoice
that they are doing good works. Each of us has been blessed with different
gifts from above to be placed at the service of the kingdom. Scott Hahn wrote
in his weekly reflection that "God can and will work mighty deeds through the
most unexpected and unlikely people." I offer the twelve apostles as Exhibit A.
Each and every one of us has been blessed by the Almighty to do great things.
Yet, we get jealous and envy the triumphs of others. Even within the Church,
there are people and groups who think that their way, their group, or their
particular ministry is the only way to achieve salvation. The truth is that our
parishes have been blessed with an abundance of ministries that tend to the
various needs of its parishioners. No ministry, no person, and no priest has
the market cornered on salvation. Each of us is called to do the Lord's will
with the gifts he has given us in the ministry he has called us to despite our
sins and failings. John and the disciples thought that they were the only
chosen ones when it fact we have all been chosen by Christ to perform mighty
deeds and spread his blessings to all the world.
