In society, in general, a person may feel lost, perhaps just a number without an identity, but in small groups, we have the opportunity to get to know each other, to understand and accept one another, and even to grow in our relationships and learn to accept different opinions. Small groups help us build friendships that do us a lot of good. When these groups are within a parish or a religious organisation, they help us to pray, get to know God more, and receive support in understanding the Word of God. It is noticeable that those Christians who are part of a group generally have a stronger faith.
However, like with everything else, when one is part of a group, they must be cautious of certain temptations: for example, rivalries, the attitude of ‘we are better than the others,’ and thus, we begin to criticise or perhaps even exclude others for one reason or another. Today’s gospel teaches us a lot about this. ‘John said to Jesus: “Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.”’ Even the apostles, like us, felt the temptation to exclude; but Jesus teaches them and us: ‘Do not stop him, for no one who does a miracle in my name can, in the next moment, speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.’ While we, as humans, may, if we are not careful, adopt an exclusionary mentality, even when it comes to God and religion, God is the opposite: He is a Father whose hands are always open to welcome everyone, even those whom we, unfortunately, do not find a place for in our communities.
In today’s first reading, we heard how Joshua, Moses’ servant and the one who was to lead God’s people after him, wanted Moses to stop the two young men who had begun to prophesy outside the camp, but Moses warned him: ‘Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!’ God wants to spread His love abundantly to everyone; He is concerned that this love reaches all people. How important it is that, while we are part of groups, we have hearts and hands open to everyone. In this way, we too will share in God’s concern that His love and salvation reach all people.
Today’s psalm tells us: ‘Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.’ Often behind the mentality of exclusion, there is a mentality of pride, that is, thinking that I/we are better than others: this mentality harms us greatly because it is contrary to the love we are called to. And in today’s gospel, Jesus continues to tell us that when we feel the temptation to sin, when we realise we are weak, we need to make decisions that help us avoid temptation. There is an English saying: ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions,’ because these remained intentions and were never put into practice. A person who wants to avoid sin but does not want to avoid the people, places, and objects that bring them closer to sin is only deceiving themselves. We ask ourselves: How much do I make God’s concern my own, that His love and salvation reach everyone? How much do I allow God to use me to show His love to those I meet? How much do I avoid the occasion of sin, aware that I am weak and that if I slip, I will fall?
We ask you, Lord, help us to realise how much damage sin does to us, and that when we give in to it, you cannot use us to share your love with others. Help us, Lord, so that, above all, we never exclude anyone, but in all we say and do, we seek to share with others the beauty of Your love. Amen.