Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Tuesday of the fifteenth week in ordinary time, July 15, 2025, Memorial of Saint Bonaventure , Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Delivered by Vanessa Anggono from the Parish of Saint Ignatius in the Archdiocese of Singapore. Exodus 2: 1-15a; Rs psalm 69: 3.14.30-31.33-34; Matthew 11: 20-24. DISAPPOINTED The title for our meditation today is:Disappointed. As you hear this word, you might immediately ask how come thetheme “disappointed” to be our today’s reflection. This reaction can be seensimilar to various responses in the form of likes or dislikes and differentcomments on your Facebook wall when you post your status"disappointed". The more responses on your wall, the more excited andbusy you are. Feeling disappointed is part ofeveryone’s life. Disappointment happens because of many factors. Perhaps theuniversal characteristics of disappointment are like sadness, anger,irritation, annoyance, despair, hurt, embarrassed and so on. It is clear andunderstandable, that someone who is disappointed normally declines in conditionfrom number 10 then moves down to 8, 7, 5 even to 0. In fact there are many factors thatcause someone disappointed and we cannot reflect them all in this briefmeditation. We just want to highlight one of them. That factor is becausepeople do not give appreciation or gratitude for the goodness and truth we do.Appreciation is the same with respect, esteem, and attention. More precisely,it is an attitude of gratitude. People who are grateful in life will maintain,cherish, appreciate and develop what they already have achieved, what isavailable, and what they have accepted or treasured. There are many examples. From today'sreadings, we can follow three examples. First, Moses was disappointed thatgreat works and sacrifices of the Israelites as servants were not appreciatedby the Egyptians, even the Jews were beaten, tortured and humiliated. The Kingof Egypt was disappointed at the actions of Moses who took his own way, judgingwhatever he wanted, killing Egyptians who acted brutally on the Jews. Moses didnot realize that he had been saved and raised by the Kingdom of Egypt. JesusChrist was disappointed at the cities that had received instruction andstrength from Him, but they had no intention of repentance. You can extend theexamples according to each person's experience. The experience of disappointmentbecause of no appreciation or no gratitude is normally expressed in variousreactions such as warning, correction, anger, and punishment. There is nothingwrong about such reactions, in so far that these all have purpose to bringpeople back to be grateful and appreciative persons. But it will becomeproblematic or even a sinful if a disappointment drives people to revenge, setevil plans, raise conflicts and war. So actually, being disappointed is a momentto be honest as persons of good or bad intention. Let's pray. In the name of theFather ... Almighty Father, we thank you for the gift of life on this new day,when we have every opportunity to bear witness in faith, love and hope, so thatmore people will experience your glory in this world. Hail Mary full of grace... In the name of the Father ...