Thursday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary time
(I Peter 2:2-5.9-12; Mark 10:46-52)
Addressing himself to non-Jewish Christians in today’s first
reading, Peter reminds them of the graces they have received. They are no longer vulnerable individuals but
a strong nation with God as their protector.
Each person of the nation has a priestly status whereby she or he might
offer prayers as valid sacrifices.
The new status of the people carries with it heightened
responsibilities. The people must live
as God has directed in the commandments as reinterpreted by Jesus. What is more, they should offer spiritual
sacrifices of self-denial and works of mercy.
In these ways they will be silently preaching salvation in Jesus.
What Peter says to the churches of the first century
certainly applies to us today. We too
may be rejected by others for insisting on the right to life and the evil of euthanasia.
We too have been called out of the darkness of pursuing convenience into the
light of never fading, sacrificial love.
