Happy New Year to all of the Gratia Vobis Ministries reflection readers, and Grace to You.
When I was growing up, we took yearly trips from our family home to my grandparents’ homes in the Cleveland, Ohio, USA area. Depending on where we lived at the time, the trip would be at least 8 hours of driving, with the 3 of us kids stuffed in the back seat of the family station wagon. This was the era before portable electronics. One of the games we would play to pass the time was “I Spy”. We would pick a topic, and look for examples and shout out our findings. For instance, we would look for Buick automobiles, motorcycles, road kill, police, birds, or whatever came to mind. If we chose to “spy” Volkswagons, it was amazing how many could be spotted, when we would not normally even notice them.
I try to read a Chapter of the Bible every morning, in addition to the GVM reflection. I don’t have an overall game plan to reflect on the readings in a certain way, but I try to think about the readings and apply them to my day. Sort of like an “I spy” for the day, based on how the readings hit me. It’s amazing how a seemingly “random” reading can apply to my day.
As an example, my day for writing a daily reflection for GVM is the 4th day of the month. Today’s Gospel from Matthew was a perfect example for finding something that applies to my day. Jesus had heard that John the Baptist had been arrested. This was probably troubling to Jesus, so he started a road trip. He left his home town of Nazareth and was going to live in Capernaum, by the sea, which would offer some solace. Living by bodies of water does that. As he traveled, he passed through the land of Zebulun. Hey wait!! I live in Zebulon (spelled a little differently) North Carolina. People driving to the sea from Raleigh pass through here. Jesus began to preach about repenting, and to cure people of all sorts of mental and physical issues. Perhaps the towns he visited back then were like the small towns out here in Eastern North Carolina. The reading said he drew large crowds of believers. He didn’t start in big cities like Rome (or Raleigh), he started out in the small towns out in the country.
However, the first reading from John reminds us that Evil also exists. In fact, John tells us that the antichrist isn’t going to be here later, he’s here NOW. Evil/Satan is certainly in our midst, even though many don’t want to admit it. Satan can also draw a crowd, like Jesus can. Just think of the horrors of human trafficking, especially children abused in the pornography industry. We need much more “good” and much less “evil” today.
In summary, when we are on the look out for something, we often find it. My Mom would tell me that “if you go lookin’ for trouble, you’re sure to find it”. Evil is here, and Satan would love to have us follow his path. Searches can also be a positive thing as we search for Jesus in our friends, neighbors, customers or just folks we meet during our normal lives. We have Jesus in the Eucharist, as well. Jesus was in Zebulon 2000 years ago. What are we doing to make sure Jesus is in our town and our life today?
[Readings: I Jn 3:22-4:6; Mt 4:12-17, 23-25]
