Monday of the
Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Deuteronomy 10:12-22; Matthew 17:22-27)
Once I traveled from Calcutta in eastern India to the
Punjab in the west. Having purchased my
train ticket beforehand, I went to the train station with confidence. All I had to do was to board the train. But that was easier said than done. Fifteen minutes before the scheduled
departure, the station went wild. People
rushed in every direction. I could not
find my coach but foolishly refused the request of porters to help me. A young man noticed my vulnerability and came
to my aid. He took my bag and found my
coach and seat. He did not ask for
anything in return. He probably did not
realize that he was carrying out the precept in today’s first reading. He befriended an alien.
Scripture has a universal vision. People are not to so clannishly or nationalistically
that they turn their backs to others. They
are to help one another as they share a common origin in God. Obligations to family and to nation exist,
but these should not curtail friendship with others.
We live in a time of people on the move. There are certainly more tourists and
probably pilgrims than ever before. The
numbers of immigrants and refugees also keep growing. Material benefits are regularly derived from
this vast movement of humankind.
Spiritual benefits are to be reaped as well when we make an effort to
assist strangers.
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