Life is full of so many concerns and distractions that it can be easy to overlook where God at work among us. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.
Readings for Tuesday of the 15th week of ordinary time can be found here.
A famous psychology experiment once took place in which a group of people had to watch a video of students passing a basketball between them, some wearing white shirts and some wearing black. The viewers had to count how many times the players with black shirts touched the ball. After the video they were asked who noticed the gorilla. Half way through the video, someone wearing a gorilla costume walked through the scene, looked at the camera and beat their chest before walking off. Over half the viewers hadn’t spotted the gorilla.
Sometimes we are so focused on something we don’t notice what is before our eyes. That’s why we’re told not to use our mobile phone while driving. In our first reading King Ahaz of Judah is so fixated on the threat to his nation from the neighbouring kingdoms of Syria and Ephraim that he fails to notice the word of God which is right in his midst. Isaiah is trying to reassure Ahaz that God will come to his aid and will defeat his enemies. Yet later on in the book of Isaiah we learn that Ahaz refused to listen and instead tried to forge an alliance with Assyria, which ultimately ended in disaster.
In the Gospel Jesus criticises the towns of Chorazin and Bethsaida for failing to recognise how God was at work in their midst through his own ministry. Even the heathen cities of Tyre and Sidon would have done better. As Christians today there is so much to distract and worry us, from threats of war to climate change to church politics and finances. It can be easy to lose sight of what really matters, to fail to notice how God is at work among us, and how he is speaking to us. Let us always make the time to be aware of his presence and his guidance, and then have the courage to follow where he is leading us.
Mass today is in St Mary’s at 6.30pm.
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