The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of Tabernacles for the Lord, lasting seven days.
These are the solemn festivals of the Lord to which you are to summon the children of Israel, sacred assemblies for the purpose of offering burnt offerings, holocausts, oblations, sacrifices and libations to the Lord, according to the ritual of each day.
One the surface the Old Testament people of Isarel were a party bunch. In our busy world we struggle to take a day off let alone a week. People with families and work are so busy. Even the retired and elderly have busy schedules, but most of those are to doctors and relatives. We don’t take the time to relax and put our cell phones down to appreciate who is there in front of us.
I traveled to Colorado last weekend for a funeral. In the airport both ways the old and young had their noses in their cell phones. Their problem was what to do with their time as they waited for flight delays and mechanical and weather problem. They were at the airport but not really. They were somewhere else.
At an airport restaurant I noticed a family of 5 who were looking for somewhere to eat so I changed my table so they could all sit together. No asked me, but I knew it was the right thing to do, I was looking at them and not self-absorbed in my newspaper or food. I noticed them because I was looking at people. Sometimes we don’t even see the people we know and don’t appreciate what they are going through.
Now we come to seeing Jesus in others. At the airport I was looking for Jesus in the people around me. In our scripture we have town folk who knew Jesus but were not looking at Him or what he said. The had a bias that said He was only a carpenter. So where did the man get it all?’ And they would not accept him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is only despised in his own country and in his own house’, and he did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
How we treat others is a sign of our faith!
You will have to ask your priest on how to build your faith, but my suggestion is to build your relationship with Jesus and to love the people He sends you. Our Saint today, Saint Alphonsus, was full of faith and used it to connect his message of salvation to everyone.
From a Wikipedia Biography “He was ordained on December 21, 1726, at the age of 30. He lived his first years as a priest with the homeless and the marginalized youth of Naples. He became very popular because of his plain and simple preaching. He said: “I have never preached a sermon which the poorest old woman in the congregation could not understand”.
Our relationship with Jesus and how we preach His message to others is how we grow in faith and spread that faith to the world.
God Love You Always
Bob Burford
PS: Please Pray for the soul of our beloved Pontiff, Pope Francis and for his successor, Pope Leo. Please Pray for Cancer victims and their caregivers. Pray for the conversion of Russia and the salvation of the Ukrainian and Russian people and their soldiers. Pray for the Holy Land. Pray for peace! The impossible could and can happen. Never deny God.
