Matthew 17:9a,
10-13
As they
were coming down from the mountain the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do the
scribes say that Elijah must come first?” He said in reply,* “Elijah will
indeed come and restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already
come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So
also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood
that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
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Reflection:
Why is it
that we often recognize the importance of someone after he had left us? Or we
don’t listen to the voice of our conscience to repent until we realize later
that we are in a problematic situation?
The call
of Jesus for repentance continuous until this very hour, he speaks to us
through people around us and through our conscience. We should not ignore it, we
should rather listen to it because to listen and repent is the right course of
action that we must take.
Like John
who prepared the way for Jesus, we too should become the modern day John. Thus
we should also gently call for repentance to those within our sphere of
environment. This is for the reason that this is a call of duty for us Catholics.
Lest we
forget that by virtue of our Baptism we are the modern day John. Therefore, we
have to call for repentance and conversion also. For this call to be effective we
have to do this with gentleness, with mercy and compassion.
It is
obvious that Jesus is pertaining to John as the second coming of the prophet
Elijah. But majority of the people then did not recognize the call of John to
renew their lives because they were busy with the things of this world. They
have no time to listen to the messenger of God yet they created time to serve
their own selfish interest.
We have
nothing to lose if we tread the way of John. Yes it will not be a walk in the
park and there will be challenges as well. But if Christ is with us who will be
against us? Nobody for we have Jesus at our backs silently supporting us. –
Marino J. Dasmarinas
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