"IN MY NAME"
It is important,
infinitely and eternally important, to check our views of love and justice, our
ways and our wisdom, to see how they conform to God's.
Jesus Christ calls Himself "the Way, the Truth, and the
Life" (Jn 14:6). Jesus always acts with love and justice, and in the
Gospel, He explains and embodies these virtues to the fullest. Jesus is the
wisdom of our heavenly Father, Whose ways are not our ways, and whose thoughts
are not our thoughts (cf. Is 55:8). It is important then, infinitely and
eternally important, to check our views of love and justice, our ways and our
wisdom, to see how they conform to God's. It is ultimately important to act in the
Name of Jesus, daily. Our faith and loyalty must be in Him!
In today's Gospel of Mark, Jesus replies to John, "Do not
prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in My name who can at
the same time speak ill of Me. For whoever is not against us is for us"
(Mk 9:39-40). Remember as Christians, we have been baptized in Jesus' name, but
that name does not belong to us. We do not have exclusive rights to the wisdom
and power of God revealed in Jesus. The power of our heavenly Father often walks
with us "as a stranger," St. James tells us. "If the Lord wills
it, we shall live to do this or that" (Jas 4:15).
In today's Responsorial Psalm we acclaim, "Hear this, all
you peoples" (Ps 49:1), what Jesus told us, it is all in His name, for He
is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life."
Do we question our loyalty and who it should go to?