Reflection for Monday September 12, Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 7:1-10

Gospel: Luke 7:1-10

When Jesus had finished all his words to the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die, and he was valuable to him. When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and save the life of his slave. They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying, “He deserves to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.” And Jesus went with them, but when he was only a short distance from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed. For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him and, turning, said to the crowd following him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” When the messengers returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

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Reflection:

Do you always prioritize the poor over the rich?

The concern of the centurion/military officer to his slave is very admirable; just imagine he went to Jesus for healing for his very sick slave. The centurion/military officer’s love for his slave was very pleasing for Jesus that’s why Jesus granted his desire for healing for his slave.

By the way, who’s the slave in our modern times? The slaves of our time are the poor people that we know, whose status in life is way way below us. Oftentimes our concern for the poor is very different from those who are rich.

To be brutally honest, we actually have two sets of standards of concern for our friends who are poor and rich. Many of us have biases towards our rich friends for this is what is normal for us: go for the rich friends first before we go for the poor friends.

Let us always remember that Jesus always wants us to help and pray for those who are in need specially the poor for they are closest to His heart. This doesn’t mean that we neglect the rich but if there would be a choice to whom would we extend help first.

 It’s no brainer that we go to  the poor first, we have to prioritize them over the rich. – Marino J. Dasmarinas