The Right thing to do...

WORD 2day: Tuesday, 25th week in Ordinary time

September 24, 2024 - Proverbs 21: 1-6, 10-13; Luke 8: 19-21

Doing the right thing, is better than doing great things says the first reading today! At times we are ready to do great and demanding things, but we fail to see the ordinary things that we are called to do, the right things to do! And the right thing is actually imprinted in our hearts. 

The Word of God, comes to us through various ways: direct proclamation is just one among them. There are situations and persons whom we come across who bring us a challenge to face and respond to. The Word of God comes along, instructing us what is right and what is to be avoided. There is the inner voice within us, that "sound of sheer silence" (1 Kgs 19:12), which tells us at the right moment the right thing to do.

All that we need to do is first of all, be attentive: attentive to the Word that comes across to us. Secondly, be sincere: sincere to admit that we have received the word and to recognise the demands that it places. At times because of the demands that the Word places on us, we pretend not to have heard, or not to have understood the real meaning of the Word. It would serve no purpose and we in fact deceive ourselves by doing it. Thirdly, our task is to be diligent, in carrying out amidst all struggles, what the Word tells us.

The Gospel today assures us that when we do all the three we would be considered not merely disciples, but mother, brother, sister, in short, coheirs with Christ to the Reign of God. But when we stop short of them, we would be deceiving ourselves warns the letter of James (1:22). It is a grace from the Spirit to do the right thing... let us beseech the Lord to grant us this wisdom and grace.