Word to the Wise
Saturday, October 5, 2013 - Saturday in the 26th Week in Ordinary Time
[Bar 4:5-12, 27-29 and Luke 10:17-24]Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven......Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.
The disciples have returned from their "mission trip" like many college students do nowadays all fired up and amazed at what their faith has enabled them to do! Jesus warns the disciples, however, that the real blessing is not that they have received power from God but that they are close to God. Power can go to the head and cause a loss of perspective. The true perspective comes in the second part of the quote above, which was hinted at by the priest, Simon, in the temple: "Now let your servant go in peace....for I have seen the salvation..."
The real blessing comes from hearing and seeing Jesus. If the disciples (then and now) get caught up in being powerful, they forget that the power is not theirs but God's! More than one clergyman has had to learn that lesson the hard way! AMEN