In Our Own Back Yard
Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couples:
Jesus tells us to appreciate what we have — HIM! Many of the people just couldn’t seem to realize what and who it was that was with them, right next to them, that it was their Messiah, their Lord and Savior. His words and miracles should have been sufficient for them to discover that. But they kept asking for proof — for more and more proof. Seemed as if he couldn’t prove himself to some of them no matter how hard he tried.
So, he said, “The queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here.” That’s the Queen of Sheba he was talking about. She appreciated Solomon and traveled far to see him. They had the Son of God in their very midst and they were missing out on him.
Isn’t that the way we are with some of our natural and manmade attractions? I’ll bet there are people who live at Niagara Falls who have never gone over to take a look at it. There are natives of Louisville, Ky. who have never bothered to go see the Kentucky Derby; and people in New York City who have never gone out to the Statue of Liberty, lifelong inhabitants of Indianapolis who have never witnessed the Indianapolis 500 - while people from all parts of the world come to see those things.
Yes, we often don’t appreciate what we have in our own back yards. Did you step out of your house to see the solar eclipse August 21, 2017?
God and Christ are always with us. The Holy Spirit is always within us, when we allow him. We have much to appreciate, and we don’t have to do any travelling to get to it. How lucky we are!
