"Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow in our company." Jesus said to him, "Do not prevent him, for whoever is not against you is for you."- Lk 9:49-50
Friends, God is good, all the time.
In today's gospel, Jesus introduces the disciples to a novel perspective that challenges them not to look for traces of divisions and disunity to dwell on them. Instead, they should be animated by friendship and good neighborliness that aim at cooperation and working together. And we shouldn’t also forget that these attitudes lend themselves to peace, an essential human aspiration.
The disciples told Jesus that they had partitioned themselves against a man acting in his name by stopping him. And what was the Lord's reaction? He was amazed at them and went on to tell them, "whoever is not against you is for you." The Lord’s admonition to the disciples is to remain positive and open to others, even when they appear to be motivated by a somehow different interest and concerns than what we know and believe. For that is essential for peace.
Now I want to remind you of something St Pope John Paul II said in 1983 in his message for the celebration of World Day of Peace:
Citizens, in general, wish there to be a climate of peace, which will guarantee their search for well-being, particularly when they find themselves faced - as in our days - by an economic crisis which threatens all workers. But it would be necessary to go to the logical conclusion of this aspiration, which is happily very widespread: peace will not be established, nor will it be maintained unless one takes the means. And the means par excellence is adopting an attitude of dialogue, that is of patiently introducing the mechanisms and phases of dialogue wherever peace is threatened or already compromised, in families, in society, between countries, or between blocs of countries.
We are all responsible for ensuring that our words, actions, and attitudes produce a peaceful environment. All of us are called to establish and maintain peace, and it does not depend on the place and time in which we live. Our nations, families, and societies need stable and just foundations of peace if they are to endure. Hence, let’s be mindful of our conduct and let the manner of it reflects peace before, during, and after the upcoming elections.
Prayer blessings: Father, thank you for our families, societies, and country that we cherish and wish your blessings upon them. Help us to be against the winds and tides of chaos and disturbances that rise against the peace we seek and build together as one people under God. Amen.