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A Reflection from the Fuel Daily Readings App for the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Click here to read the reading.
“For he that is not against us is for us.”
What a quote. When I heard Jesus say that, it went straight into my little Evangelical heart.
I mean, I am and always will be Catholic. The Church is what Jesus chose to be His representative Body. But, I don’t know how good we are at this whole “For he that is not against us is for us” business. John forbade people because they weren’t part of the group. Even Jesus loving folk. And I reckon we can get a little protective of our identity as Catholics too.
There’s a lot of heat on the Church from secular society, and it makes it easier to create an “us” and “them” mentality. But there is no us and them. Not in Jesus’ mind. For Jesus actually made every single “us” and every single “them”. We’re special, but so are they. They just don’t know it as well as we might. And what a crying shame that is!
Jesus wants Catholicism to be the party that hands out personalised crepe paper invites. He wants a church that has open doors, and people who walk out of them, who welcome new people into the arms of our tradition and treasure.
Look, I don’t mean walk up to every new guy you see and go, “Hey but have you met the Lord?” But like, being open about your Faith and what you do on a Sunday might sound little, but it’s massive. And niceness. Be nice. Because it’s humane. Because everyone deserves the chance to know Jesus, to be invited, and you’re perhaps the only doorway they will ever know.
+ Jesus give me the courage to step out of myself and into the lives of people who desire to know You. Because You are so good.