February 27, 2019

Gospel: Mark 9:38-40

John said to him, “Master, we saw someone who drove out demons by calling upon your name, and we tried to forbid him, because he does not belong to our group.” Jesus answered, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in my name can soon after speak evil of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.

Reflection:
“For whoever is not against us is for us.”
Do we believe that Christians are the only ones who do good in the world? There are countless people of good will who serve their neighbors, the cause of peace, justice, and the good of the earth, who never invoke or even acknowledge the name of Christ. The French novelist François Mauriac spoke of such persons: “What glorious hope! There are all those who will discover that their neighbor is Jesus himself, although they belong to the mass of those who do not know Christ or have forgotten Him. It is impossible for any one of those who has real charity in his heart not to serve Christ. Even those who think they hate Him have consecrated their lives to Him; for Jesus is disguised and masked in the midst of men, hidden among the poor, among the sick, among prisoners, among strangers. Many who serve Him officially have never known who He was, and many who do not even know His name, will hear on the last day the words that open to them the gates of joy. ‘Those children were I, and I those working men. I wept on the hospital bed. I was that murderer in his cell whom you consoled.’”

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019