Rejoice For Heaven
Jesus said to the returning disciples, “Do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
Luke 10:17-20
14th SUNDAY Ordinary Time Cycle C
In the mall the small boy was screaming his lungs out. People stared at his helpless mother. Embarrassed the mother hurriedly bought the toy robot. As soon as he held it he stopped crying. You see it is easy to please kids for their needs are simple.
Sometimes adults also behave like babies. They exhibit tantrums when they could not get their whims. They easily cry at problems normal in daily life. But it is also simple to stop their worrying once they get money even in forms of bribes.
However, Jesus tells us to seek first the Kingdom of God because all the rest of our wants and needs will be given besides. God will give what we really need so long as we put the Kingdom of heaven on top of our priorities.
In today’s gospel returning their mission the 72 disciples were overjoyed because they were successful. Beside people believing their preaching, they were able to do miracles like cure the sick, resurrect the dead and even drive away demons. Yet Jesus corrected them. He told them not to rejoice for these ephemeral reasons. They must rejoice instead because their names have been enrolled in heaven.
Don Bosco used to say, “a bit of heaven fixes every problem.” Often, he was met with insurmountable problems, but he remained unfazed. It is because he always saw things in the larger perspective of heaven. Thus, he often told “Walk with feet on the ground but with eyes on heaven.” Keep your eyes on your destination. If any problem does not draw you farther away from that, then do not worry, do not cry even if it is a disaster facing you.
More boys were flocking the oratory. Don Bosco had to annex a new wing to the existing oratory to accommodate the ever-increasing number of lads. One night while sleeping a large rumbling noise was heard by the everyone at the oratory. Rushing out from the dormitories everybody at first thought it was an earthquake. Later it was discovered that annex building had collapsed. The workers were rushing its construction. Don Bosco had not yet paid a single cent for the job. But seeing the disaster he simply said, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
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