May the Lord give you peace and health in the Holy Spirit. It is on 08th August 2023. We celebrate the memorial of St. Dominic, a Priest. He founded the Dominican Order called the Order of Preachers which provided the city dwellers with their education to deal with their spiritual challenges. Before leaving the world, at his deathbed, he encouraged his friars, “I leave to you as my sons; have charity among yourselves; hold fast to humility; keep a willing poverty.”
We reflect on Numbers 12:1-13 and the Gospel of Matthew 14:22-36.
Who is the black sheep in our families? What is the motive for our slandering and sensational accusations of others?
‘Church must speak the language of charity’ says His Holiness Pope Francis. We are the Church. What kind of language is spoken in our domestic church?
Sibling rivalries sacrifice the reputation of a person.
They can be from the same family, community, religious congregation, church, and organization we serve.
The root cause of sibling rivalry is jealousy and gossiping, a malicious and intentional comparison of quality with the overblown pride and arrogance of the other person.
Many of our families have become islands due to sibling rivalries even to the extent of getting rid of them physically and emotionally.
It happened in the family of Moses whose beloved sister Miriam who protected Moses from the Egyptian kings at his birth and sang the song of victory became indignant about Moses and his wife. They abused the wife of Moses calling her in a most disrespectful and hurting language. God did not want to tolerate this evil of jealousy in the family of Moses who was the humblest man who talked to God face to face. “Now Moses was the humblest of men, the humblest man on earth.” (Numb.12:3). God summons the three in the Tent of Meeting and punishes Miriam with leprosy for what she said about Moses and his wife. But Moses pleaded with God for healing his sister and God did heal her instantly proving the supremacy of Moses in front of her and the entire family.
God chooses someone with whom we have a problem, but God has none against the person chosen. Fighting against our brothers and sisters is like waging a war against God’s judgement, selection, and appointment.
We too will be subjected by God if continue to bring down the name, fame and game of our brothers and sisters.
“Moses was very humble, more so than anyone else on the face of the earth.” (Num.12:3) Unless and until we become humble like Moses and Peter, we cannot deal with the issues of sibling rivalry wherever we are. Moses demonstrated a type of silence all through while the noises of his siblings were so irritable and unbearably loud and jarring. Our silence coupled with prayer can heal the wounds and pain of sibling rivalry.
As God saved Moses from the evil tongues of Miriam and Aaron, so Jesus saves sinking Peter as he walked on the water.
With the support of prayer, we can always feel the presence of God while our close associates make us shrink, shiver, and feel small. Jesus is ready to heal and fill our hearts with love and faith only when we acknowledge Him, “the Son of God.”
Let us settle our dust and make us clean by talking with the one we have issues with.
In the Gospel, Jesus invites us to keep our hearts clean in what we listen to. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Mt 5:8) To meet God or the devil depends on what we bring out from our hearts and lives. “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a person.” (Mt.15:11). When we have stopped doing good, we have started finding fault with others. Let us be aware of those self-defeating voices around us and allow the Holy Spirit to bring out the best in us. May you have a lovely day. God bless you.