Reflection for Tuesday
of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time Year A
(Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13;
Mt 9:32-38)
Prophet Hosea laments how Israel shut God out
in her choices of leadership. “Israel made kings, but not through me. They set
up princes, but without my knowledge.” By silencing God, the rulers they chose, led them to worship idols that “have mouths but cannot speak, they have
eyes but cannot see" (Ps 115:5). The prophet announced series of punishments to
them, which in the end will make Israel to lose its voice in the land of
slavery. “Now He will remember their iniquity, and punish their sins; they
shall return to Egypt.”
Imagine one losing his voice. It is like one
who has no place among the community of persons. His basic means of
communication is shut down. Such a person cannot express himself freely, and he
will begin to experience loneliness and abandonment! This is the kind of
slavery that sin and Satan try to lure us into. Whenever we ‘silence’ God away from our daily choices, we end up in the hands
of ‘idols’ that have no voice and cannot guarantee our voices.
In the Gospel of today, Jesus steps in as He
restores the speech of a man possessed by a demon. This is how we find our ‘voices’
in Jesus in the midst of a world that is attracted to lies. There is always a
conspiracy against the truth both in the family and the larger society. This tendency
to mute the voice of truth has made those who received their voices in Jesus to
be unpopular and few. Thus, the Pharisees tried to ‘silence’ Jesus by heaping
false accusations against Him: “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.” But
their plan failed as all falsehood will one day collapse.
Seeing the crowds looking like sheep without a
shepherd, Jesus said to His disciples “The harvest is plentiful, but the
labourers are few, pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers
into His harvest.” God must be involved! True shepherds are God’s sent; true
labourers labour for the Lord. These are the ones who through Jesus give voice
and direction to the people. But if we shut God out as Hosea lamented, we will
get leaders who may take us back to Egypt.
Therefore, let us invite Jesus into our lives
today, and involve Him in our daily affairs. If we make our choices in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, our voices shall continue to resound even without
words.
Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic
Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Tuesday July 7th, 2020.
