God Uses Us for His Mission

09-26-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Arul Doss

Dear people of God,

Good morning to you all. The liturgy of Word of God of this Sunday says that God freely gives his spirit to all people. Through God’s free gift, people of all nations can resist evil and manifest His true Spirit in their lives and actions.

In our First Reading, a young man approaches Moses to inform him that Eldad and Medad were prophesying in the camp. Joshua, who is Moses’ aide, encourages Moses to stop these men. Moses responds, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!” Essentially, Moses is telling his men to stop being jealous that others too have the gift of prophecy bestowed on them from the Lord.

A similar situation occurred in our Gospel as John told Jesus about someone driving out demons in His name. John explains that he tried to prevent him since this man doesn’t follow them. Jesus responds by saying, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.” Interestingly, Moses and Jesus refused to yield to the fears, jealousy and malicious request of their disciples to stop them. Being filled with the spirit of God themselves, they wisely discerned and knew that these men were genuine. Their mission was is in line with the will of God that, all men should receive His spirit and preach the good news. So, for Moses and Jesus, it was a good development and they were against the spirit of envy and oppression.

There are many lessons for us from today’s readings. First, God can choose and use anyone he wishes for his mission. Second, He gives his Spirit for the edification of his church. Third, nothing (not even the devil), can stop whoever God truly anoints for his mission. So, when Christ says that: “The gate of hell shall not prevail against the Church” (Mt 16:18), He means that the Spirit of God is upon His church. It shall last as long as God wishes. Fourth and most important, we must not be jealous or envious of the gift of others. Rather, we should see one another (especially, those that God has truly called) as companions in God’s mission.

Finally, another important lesson we must learn today is that God works in mysterious ways and does not reason like us humans. This is simply to say that by allowing his spirit to operate in those outside the camp of Moses and the disciples of Jesus, God sees much better than us humans. He chooses whoever he wants and empowers him or her for his mission. Also, it is his desire that all of us his children be filled with his spirit in order to work for the establishment of His Kingdom in all hearts.
Have a Happy and Blessed Sunday!

Yours in Jesus,
Fr. Doss