Friday Daily Mass Reflection: It's Not About Big Screen TVs

Ephesians 1:11-14 / Luke 12:1-7 (Inspired by a Fr. Stephen Yim)

Every year you hear the stories of "Black Friday." The after Thanksgiving sale when people line up to be the first  to try to buy the limited number of big screen TVs on sale. If people fall down or can’t resist the push of the crowd, they are run over. 

I don’t particularly like crowds, especially crowds that are so big you feel like a sardine in a can. That's why I avoid this day. So many people in such a tight spot can be over-whelming. We become just a spot in a mass of humanity.

Think about those who followed Jesus. He fed 5000 and then 4000 and that was just the men. He performed miracles; he healed the sick. He raised the dead. That's better than a big screen TV.

If we were there following Jesus, could we have possibly felt like anymore than leaf on a river? We would have been carried along by the tide of humanity that followed Jesus. Swirling about, all over the place?

So many people in the crowed that followed Jesus must have felt this way. In the gospel, we hear that people gathered by the thousands and were trampling on one another.

The weak were shoved out of the way. They were stepped on by the strong or pushed to the back. The stronger was always pushing forward. Eventually, pushed away, the weak would have no chance of seeing or hearing Jesus; no chance to praise him, ask for his help, or even touch his garment.

No one is forgotten in God's sight, especially the weak. God cares for the least, the last, the lost and the lowly.

Jesus teaches. “Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed.” In the 1st reading, we learn that each of us, weak and strong, “exist for the praise of his glory.”   

We don't have to push and shove others out of our way or trample upon them to prove our worth.  “What you have whispered . . . , will be proclaimed on the housetops.”

We are worth more than many sparrows and even big screen TVs. To prove this, Jesus even sacrificed His life on the cross to show us our worth.

Even, when we feel we are lost or the least or the last; let us not be afraid. God will not run over us. He has not forgotten us and He never will.