Readings: Genesis 32:22-32; Psalm 17; Mt 9:32-38 Jesus casts one demon and at once another appears. You get rid of one problem and more are waiting for you right behind it. As the scientists and doctors discover a vaccine to conquer one virus, other new variants/mutations appear. We are right now in this situation. As Jesus said on one occasion, “one devil driven out goes on to find another for the next invasion”. Such is humankind’s problem, conquering one enemy to find another.Jesus is concerned about all of us and wants to make us whole. The Gospel message goes on saying: “Jesus saw the crowds, He had compassion for them”. Matthew had observed the compassion and understanding of Jesus. The harvest was great, but the laborers were too few. There was always too much work left to do. Is it any different today? What can be done for better improvements?
While physical labor can be taken over by modern technology, what about the human situations that need to be done? Then and now, it was the empty, lonely, unhappy and meaningless lives of peoples’ life that concerned Jesus. In poor societies, millions and millions of people suffer an existence that is less than human. And in the wealthier societies, there are deeper forms of loneliness, unhappiness and emptiness that must be conquered.
Some people sit and wait; and nothing changes. Others rush headlong into every new project. What we need in all situations is both in unity and balance; work and wait. Virtue is in the middle.Both patience and determined effort must be our pattern for every problem. That is the pattern clearly set by Christ. We have many struggles on a worldwide scale: population, starvation, standard of living, tyranny, aggression, war and you name them all…In the end, great effort and hard labor are needed. But every effort for justice, peace, equality, order, freedom requires intelligent patience. We need much wisdom and love to work and wait.