Wednesday of the Seventh Week of ordinary time
“Then she comes back to bring him happiness […] an understanding of justice.” Life will fluctuate with times of trial and of respite, and after the difficult times, the Lord offers the fruits of tested faith and patience: a deeper relationship with wisdom and the joy and understanding it offers. “O Lord, great peace have they who love your law.” (Ps 119:165) It is not so much the simple ending of a trial or difficulty that causes peace, but rather the increase of reliance upon God which is so strengthened by the difficulty.
Yet, with the cessation of trial, we can also return to bickering with others, as the disciples in the Gospel today who seek to stop another man from casting out demons in Jesus’ name. “Do not prevent him,” cries the Lord. How quickly the disciples return to arguing, and this time it is not because they are unable to do good, nor because they want to assert their pride amongst themselves, rather they see others doing good and take that as an offense to themselves and their pride. They do not recognize the connection that those others have with Christ, the relationship of faith they have fostered with the only wise and awe-inspiring one, such that in His name they are doing what the disciples failed to do. By whom are we threatened? Are we blind to the honest openness that those whom we think are our competition may have towards Christ and His wisdom? Are they really against us, or is their good work not a threat but a manifestation of the work of the Holy Spirit in them?
Indeed great peace awaits the one who lets the Lord’s maxim sink into his heart: “whoever is not against us is for us.” Usually after being purified by the Lord through some trial, we are humbled to recognize that He is at work through others as well, and this sight brings happiness. How might the Lord be calling me to see His good work in others rather than a threat to my own pride?