st. francis - 26th week friday 2013

Two lessons:

First, today Chorazin and Bethsaida were condemned because they did not believe, and much worst, they did not see the miracles performed by Jesus in their midst.  I think this is also our difficulty today, the difficulty to believe and the difficulty to even see miracles.  Why is it difficult to believe in the mighty deeds of the Lord?  Why is there difficulty in seeing his miracles?

Because miracles presuppose  neediness.  Miracles presuppose a sense of deficiency, a sense of helplessness.  Thus it is necessary to imitate more closely the consciousness of St. Francis of Assisi about himself, his neediness, his deficiencies and his helplessness because without these awareness in us we cannot see the mighty works of the Lord in our midst.
Second, today Chorazin and Bethsaida were condemned because they had greater chances in life compared to others.  They had greater chances for learning, they had greater chances for doing things right, they had greater chances because of the person of Jesus in their midst.  But they wasted these chances. St. Francis became conscious of these missed chances in his life too, a realization that came to him when he became sick and in bed struggling for his life.  Missed chances.  How many are there in our lives?  Like Francis can we still get up and resolve to correct them and recover what we have lost?