“Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!” Numbers 11:29
Today’s scripture offers us a “Moses moment,” if you will, an insight into good leadership when it really counts.
Two of the men who had left Egypt with Moses were visited by the spirit and began to prophesy in camp. That alarmed a young man who told Moses to intervene and have them stop. But Moses answered by saying, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!”
That’s our cue to welcome the Spirit into our lives—the presence of God that is always available to us—and, yes, to preach in word and deed the Good News of our faith. No need to react to what other people are saying or doing. As Moses suggests, better to focus on our own gifts and capabilities and share them in the same spirit in which they were given—freely and generously by a loving God.
A challenge worth contemplating at the beginning of a new week is just how we see God’s presence at work in the Church today. Is it a broad vision or a narrow one? Are we each a humble reflection of God’s eternal love, or are we more concerned with the doings of other people?
Friend , now is a good time to become the prophet that Moses talked about, and to let God’s love overflow from you in all directions. Through baptism and the sacraments, each of us has the capacity to do great things. Now is a good time to show the world how.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Father Raymond J. Finch, M.M.
Prayer for 4th Sunday
Lord, help me answer Your call
to serve You and share my strength,
my time, and my talents with those
who never tasted Your mercy,
love and compassion.
From of old You raised up prophets
to guide and support Your people
on their journey to new life with You.
Let me never be so blinded by my sin
nor stopped by my faults and weaknesses
that I fail to trust in Your goodness and mercy
and not in my own power alone.
Standing on Your promise to remain
ever by my side, may I rely always and only
on Your word by which You heal, free, and raise us to new life.
Help me, Jesus, to read the signs of the times, and discover Your presence
even in the most unlikely people and unexpected places.
Grant me the courage to share Your word
especially with those who hunger for truth and justice
in our world, that all might acknowledge You as Savior, Lord, and God.
Amen.
Prayer by, Father Joseph Veneroso M.M.
