Gospel: Matthew 1: 1-16, 18-23
In the movie Ratatouille, the great Chef Gousteau makes a statement few believed: anyone can cook. So along comes a rat named Remi who is a gifted chef, making incredible dishes that awe even the greatest food critics of Paris. The most influential of the critics, Anton Ego, struggles with this reality, but comes to realize what it means. A great cook can come from anywhere, even the most humblest and unlikely of origins.
Now enter the genealogy of Jesus which does not even include directly his mother Mary whose feast we celebrate today. His family tree does include the great figures of Israel's history - Abraham, David - but also many unlikely people, and then adding two women in the story in order to make the tree work, finally arriving at the humble carpenter Joseph who isn't even the biological father of Jesus. It is an unlikely path to Jesus the Messiah.
The story of Jesus and Mary is the reality that anyone can cook. Anyone can cooperate with the promptings of God in their life and accomplish great things like Mary and Jesus did. It is often the case that great things come from ordinary ingredients put together in an extraordinary way. Today is a day to reflect on how God might be calling me, how God might be putting ordinary ingredients together in my life to do great deeds of mercy and love in the world.
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