Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Tuesday of the fourteenth week in ordinary time, July 8, 2025

Delivered by Joanna from the Parish of Saint Gabriel in the Diocese of Bandung, Indonesia. Genesis 32: 22-32; Rs psalm 17: 1.2-3.6-7.8b.15; Matius 9: 32-38.RISK OF LOVE The title for our meditation today is:Risk of Love. Someone who is famous is not spared from various kinds ofcontroversy. A good fame, for example as a generous person, does notnecessarily satisfy everyone. A good and sincere intention to love is notalways pleasing to everyone. Even a devout and strong believer can be acontroversy between people who like him and those who are jealous or dislikehim. In other words, the love we do toanyone, even to ourselves, always has risks. The light or heavy risks arevaries. For example, I am very tired and want to stay away from the crowd torest and reflect on myself about everything that has happened to me. That is aconcern and love for myself. But this is not well understood and accepted tothe people around me. Some might misunderstand and assume that I am selfish andavoid the opportunity to be together or work together. The risks of love are many. WithJesus' act of healing miracles, the general response of those around him waspraise or admiration for God's great work, and ridicule or rejection ofunbelievers. They alleged that Jesus performed a miracle with the power of theleader of the Satan. From this incident we can describe the various risks oflove we mean here. Our first and easiest risk of love isto obey God's command by avoiding evil deeds and to do good. For example, wesuppress evil intention to insult a friend, then replace it by greeting him asa friend as usual. The next level is that we do good and are not cared forappreciation from others. When you take care of a job properly and thoroughly,but there is no word of thanks given to you, or there isn't even a statementfrom someone: "Who did this work?" The third risk requires a great spiritof love, that we do good in secret, meaning that we don't need to tell anyone,which means we do not need to be appreciated by others. The fourth, evenharder, is that we do good and right, not only intending to be recognized byothers, but also preparing to accept their rejection because of the good we do.And the highest risk, is that we really want to do good and love those who hateor dislike us. This is Jesus' own action and He wants us to be able to do itnow and here. Let's pray. In the name of theFather ... O Lord, bless us that can we love as You always love us. Our Fatherwho art in heaven ... In the name of the Father ...