Sunday, January 26th, 2014
3rd Sunday after Epiphany
Romans 12:16-21
St. Matthew 8:1-13
When someone hurts you, there is often a very real temptation to want to seek revenge. It is very hard to see the hand of God in such wickedness. We say, God doesn't see, God doesn't care. In fact, we are tempted to think that God has abandoned us to a amoral universe, driven by forces of fate, not governed by grace. And so we seek to correct the imbalance by taking matters into our own hands. We set for ourselves the work of revenge. But consider dear friend that retaliation is the outward expression of a weak mind, just as indigestion is the sign of a weak stomach. When we go on the offensive, to inflict punishments upon an adversary, we fail to trust in God. God sees everything, He beholds every injustice, in fact we say that certain sins cry to heaven for vengeance. God will take care! Punishment is the prerogative of God, and wanting to take it out of his hands is to doubt his order of justice and his ability to restore justice when it is disturbed.
The Catholic Church offers to the world sparkling examples of heroic trust in God. Today's epistle directs me to think of the example and the witness of St. Germaine Cousin, a pious French girl in the
16th century, who could really be called a victim of terrible injustice. Perhaps someone who might read her life may be so disquieted, that they might cease to believe in a loving providential God. But
the Catholic Church puts her before us in all her suffering, so that we might glory in the hidden workings of God's grace. This is a gory story but by God's grace becomes a story of glory.
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