16 January 2023
Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
Some reflections on today’s first reading. In the Old Testament, the priest was a man, chosen by God to offer gifts and sacrifices. The New Testament clearly shows how Jesus perfectly fits this definition. Read the Gospels and see if he did not live his whole life in obedience to the Father, who sent him to redeem us. See if he did not have to learn obedience to the Father during each phase of his life.
The author of the Hebrews helps me in this effort: “Son of God” that he was, Jesus “learned obedience from what he suffered”. And he did so “with loud cries and tears.” In doing so, Jesus, the priest, “became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.”
So, we see here how he unites himself with us, who suffer, and therefore, because of our unity with him, our personal sufferings, however grave or slight they may be, enable us to become the source of salvation for others. Realizing such a reality may not lessen my personal sufferings, but it can give them a deeper perspective.
Resolve: I shall ask the Lord today to teach me the value of suffering in my daily life, and I shall ask Our Lady of Sorrows, who kept painful matters in her heart, to obtain for me the grace to know and be obedient to the will of God, and to realize that my present sufferings unite me closer to Christ and to others.