Woe to Us

Gospel: Matthew 11: 20-24

When we experience in our lives or in the lives of others the mercy and compassion of God - when healing, liberation, or nourishment comes to us from God - what is our reaction? What should our response be? For Jesus, the answer is that we ourselves must become loving and merciful, we too should be helping others to heal, become free from their demons, and be nourished at table.  When mercy is extended to us, we in turn must show mercy to others.

But very often this is not what happens.  Like these towns that Jesus rebukes, we are all to ready to receive love and mercy for ourselves, but we are not willing to extend it to others.  We gather in our churches to ask for God's mercy, but we will not welcome and help the immigrant, the migrant, the refugee, the poor, and the marginalized.  Instead, we demean them and dehumanize them.  We create the conditions that cause their poverty, that ruined their homelands, and we are unwilling to help them as they seek help.  

Today is a day for deep reflection and soul searching.  If we seek - as we should - the love and mercy of God, then we must also extend that love and mercy to all people.  We cannot be people of war and state execution.  We cannot be people of exclusion and mass deportation.  Jesus healed, liberated, and nourished all people, excluding no one.  It is our task to do the same, or else the woe is upon us too.